The Lost Future
by mangoaddict
Summary: Set in the changed future. The Halliwells most come to grips with the reality that being family isn't always enough. Chris centric.
1. Prologue

Prologue

"Piper, what are you doing?" Leo asked quietly as he watched his wife take yet another picture of Wyatt and Chris and toss it into the fire. "Why are you destroying all of our pictures?"

Piper shook her head and said, "I'm not getting rid of all of them. Only the ones with Chris in them." She continued searching through the stack of pictures in front of her, looking for ones that showed the grown up version of her youngest child.

"Why?" Leo repeated gently.

Piper turned and stared at him. Leo's eyes were red, bloodshot from all the tears he had cried after Chris had died. But Piper's eyes were dry. She had not cried. She had been oddly calm about the entire situation, and instead of showing her emotions, she had bottled everything up and started organizing the house, removing any sign that Chris had ever been there.

"So Wyatt won't remember."

Leo frowned, confused. "Remember what?"

"Remember Chris. The big Chris. I don't want him to know that his brother died. I don't want him to know about the other future where he was evil. I don't want him to know about any of that," Piper explained matter-of-factly.

"We are going to have to tell Chris and Wyatt at some point about all this," Leo argued. "We can't keep it a secret."

"Why not?" Piper demanded. "Why would we force them to deal with this? They don't need to know. That future is gone."

Leo nodded slowly and said, "You know, destroying these pictures, pretending that past didn't happen…it won't change the fact that it did happen. What you are doing, it won't change what happened to Chris."

Piper narrowed her eyes and said, "Nothing happened to Chris. He is downstairs with Paige. He is _fine_." She bit off the last word and turned back to the pile of pictures. "I have to keep sorting these. Excuse me." She picked up a few pictures and walked over to the fire.

"Piper, look at me," Leo instructed. He moved to his wife and grabbed her arm, spinning her around. "Just stop this! This isn't the right thing to do."

"How do you know?" Piper spat. "I don't want my children, or any of my future family, to know about this. There is no reason to burden them with knowledge of a future that is gone."

"I know, I get what you are saying. But you aren't destroying those pictures to protect Wyatt and Chris and the future family. You are doing it so that you can pretend everything is okay! You can't bottle everything up. You need to grieve."

"There is nothing to grieve for," Piper repeated, but her voice shook a little and tears appeared in her eyes.

Leo stepped away from his wife and retorted coldly, "I saw him fade away in my arms! The hell there isn't anything to grieve about! My son is dead."

Piper burst in to tears. She moved away from Leo and sat down on the sofa. "No. He can't be dead, because I can't deal with him being dead," she whispered between sobs.

Leo walked over to his wife and sat down next to her. "I know, Piper. I know what you are going through, I am going through it too. But…we need you. Your sisters, me, Wyatt, little Chris…we all need you right now."

Piper nodded and wiped away a tear. "I know. I'm sorry, I just…" She glanced over at the pictures. "I just have to do this."

"You really don't want the boys to know what happened?" Leo questioned.

"I think it is for the best."

"Okay," Leo agreed. "I'll tell Phoebe and Paige. We won't tell Wyatt and Chris what happened." Leo got up and placed a hand on Piper's shoulder. "You've got me and your sisters if you want to talk. You know that, right?"

Piper nodded, and murmured, "I know." She got up and grabbed a stack of pictures, then began to toss them into the fireplace.

Leo stared at her for a moment, then reached for one of the pictures. It showed Wyatt and Big Chris playing with blocks on the floor of the kitchen. He stared at it for a moment, then slipped the picture quietly into his pocket. Making sure Piper did not see him take the picture, he turned and walked from the room.

Piper tossed another picture of Chris into the fire and watched as the flames curled around, turning the photo to ash.


	2. Awakening

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: This is Chris/Bianca, but after the first few chapters, Bianca won't have much of a role in the story until the end. So for everyone who hates Bianca, if you can get through the first chapters, the rest focuses on the Halliwells and thier struggles.

pleases review.

Chapter One: Awakening

Twenty-Three Years Later:

Christopher Halliwell slammed the door to his bedroom shut and slumped down on his bed, seething. He used his powers to send his pillow flying into the wall. It hit the wall with a gentle thud, and deciding that this was not gratifying enough, Chris then grabbed the pillow and tore it to shreds. Stuffing floated around his room, and he swung his hand in an arc, causing the stuffing to create a tornado of white cotton swirling around him.

"I'm twenty-three! Wyatt has been fighting demons since he was thirteen, and I still get sent out of the room when they are even just discussing demons!" he hissed angrily. A chair behind him smashed into the wall and broke.

"Chris?" Phoebe's voice floated up to him from the floor below. "Are you alright?" He heard the sound of pounding footsteps on the floor and then the door was wrenched open. Phoebe stood in the doorway, looking around the destroyed room in confusion. After a moment of silence, she turned to Chris and said, "I'm guessing a demon didn't attack you?" There was another silence, then she continued, "Piper will not be pleased about your room, you know."

Chris glared back at his aunt and refused to be ashamed of his room. "Let the object of my objection become but a dream as I cause the seen to become unseen," he said slowly. The room was surrounded in bright orbs, then it was magically clean again. He picked up the now whole pillow from the floor and placed it back on the bed. "I have no idea what you are talking about, Aunt Phoebe," he said grimly. "My room looks fine."

"Personal gain," Phoebe admonished. "And I am going to have to tell your mother anyway." She turned and walked back down the stairs.

Chris watched her go for a moment, then shook his head and orbed out of the room. He didn't care what his parents would think or say when they found his room empty. He didn't care about anything at the moment except getting out of there.

He reappeared at a small San Francisco Arboretum. For some reason, as far back as he could remember, this spot had always offered him comfort when he was upset. It was as though he had some happy memory from this spot that he couldn't quite remember.

He began to pace, his body shaking with anger. It had always been like this. His mother was so overprotective of him, she had even refused to allow him to attend Magic School with his brother. His father had argued with her about it for hours, but she had not changed her mind. In the end, his father would come and wake him up in the middle of the night, and the two would go to "Elder Land" to secretly train and discuss magic. Those nights were some of the best in his life because he knew that at least his father was on his side.

But it still wasn't enough. Wyatt would fight demons any time the family needed him. Even his cousins, Prue, Mel, and Pen, were allowed to fight demons. Aunt Phoebe and Uncle Jason were protective of Prue, but they allowed her to go on demon hunts. Aunt Paige and Uncle Kyle were always a little hesitant to train Mel and Pen in their powers, but they did it anyway.

And so Chris was forced to watch as his family had an entire other life that he could never be a part of.

Chris ran a hand over the stone bench and stared at the statue of the angel behind him. Sitting on the bench, he closed his eyes and tried to force away his anger and frustration. Suddenly he could hear his own voice speaking, echoing in his head.

"_Will you marry me?"_

And another voice answered his, a soft one. _"You're asking me now? Here?"_ He could not see the person who was answering his proposal, but he instinctively knew that there were tears of happiness running down her cheeks.

Chris' eyes snapped open and he frowned. "What the hell was that?"

* * *

Paige Matthews instinctively ducked the energy ball headed her way, then orbed out of the room. She reappeared behind the demon and, extending her hand, called out, "Heart!" The demon clutched at his chest for a moment, then exploded in a burst of flame. 

"I didn't realize a demon would have a heart," an amused voice commented from behind her. Paige spun around to see her oldest nephew standing there, holding Excalibur in one hand.

"Wyatt? What are you doing here?" Paige asked breathlessly.

Wyatt shrugged and waved his hand, orbing Excalibur away. "I came to talk to you, I saw the demon and I summoned Excalibur in case you needed help. But you didn't…" He walked over to a chair and sat down on it. "So, Chris went all psycho again," he continued casually, shooting a side-long look at his youngest Aunt.

"What?" Paige asked as she too sat down, taking a seat across from Wyatt. They were sitting in the living room of the apartment she shared with Kyle. Her husband was off doing some white-lighter thing, and had left Paige alone for the afternoon.

"Demon stuff. Chris was annoyed because he wasn't allowed to help out, and he destroyed his room. Then he used magic to clean it up, and Aunt Phoebe got upset with him. She went to tell Mom," Wyatt explained shortly. "I thought you should know because we are having the family dinner tonight, and…"

"You think Chris is going to be surly for the entire meal?" Paige said. "And Piper will be annoyed at him?"

Wyatt nodded. "And you always seem to be able to calm Mom down when she is mad about something. You know, you're the cool Aunt and everything," Wyatt replied, grinning.

"Flattery, my dear, will get you no where," Paige retorted.

"I don't know, Aunt Paige. You say that, but it still always seems to work." Wyatt stood up and said, "Anyway, I just was hoping you would talk to her before dinner."

"Since when did you start playing the responsible role?" Paige asked, slightly surprised.

"What do you mean?" Wyatt questioned, confused.

"Well, you are asking me to talk to your mother," Paige explained as she too stood up. "Normally it is a mother asking her sister to talk some sense into her son, not the other way around."

Wyatt looked away for a moment, then said hesitantly, "Chris…well, I think Mom is being unfair. And nobody, not even you, can talk sense into Chris. He just doesn't have any."

Paige sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Yeah…" she agreed. Wyatt gave her one last smile, then orbed out of the room. Paige walked over to the window and stared up at the sky, lost in thought. She understood perfectly how Chris felt, being so protected by his parents. But she recognized that Piper had a very legitimate concern, being worried about the welfare of her son. Chris had already died once…

But this family kept too many secrets. Wyatt coming to Paige behind his mother's back. Piper keeping secrets from both her sons. Phoebe and Jason were having the same problems because Phoebe didn't want to include Jason in the magical aspect of her life. And Piper and Leo were at loggerheads quite frequently when it came to decisions regarding Chris and his magic. It was hurting the relationships. Even Paige and Kyle had the some problems. And Paige couldn't shake the feeling that if the family didn't start being honest with each other, and quickly, something really bad was going to happen.

* * *

Piper and Phoebe stood in Chris' empty room. Piper ran a hand through her hair and tried to calm her rapidly fraying nerves. "He's gone," she stated. She walked over to his bed and sat down on it. "What am I suppose to do with him?" she whispered. 

"Piper?" Phoebe asked gently, taking a few steps over to the oldest Charmed Ones and sitting down next to her. "Listen to me. Chris is upset right now, but he will get over it."

"When?" Piper cried in frustration. "When is he going to start realizing that he can't just orb away whenever he wants? He's an adult, he needs to act like one."

Phoebe nodded and replied, "I know. I know that you are worried about him, but maybe you should give him some space. Like you said, he is an adult."

Piper jumped up and spun around to face her younger sister. "What?" she demanded heatedly. "Give him space? Phoebe, he destroyed his room then used a spell to fix it. He isn't acting like a twenty-three year old."

"And you aren't treating him like one," a voice from the hallway said. Piper and Phoebe turned to face the newcomer. Leo stared back at the two sisters, and said, "Well, you aren't. When are you going to let him fight demons? You still refuse to let him be in the same room as you when you are discussing the Underworld."

Piper narrowed her eyes and said, "I don't want a repeat of what happened the last time he fought evil. I don't want him to die. Is that such an unreasonable desire?"

"You let Wyatt fight," Leo replied softly. His eyes began to burn with unshed tears as he thought back to the other Chris, and what Gideon had done to him. He lowered his gaze to the floor and said, "And Phoebe and Paige both let their children fight."

"Wyatt is the Twice Blessed, and Phoebe and Paige's children are the new Power of Three," Piper replied. "Chris is not any of those."

"And you make that exceedingly clear to him," Leo replied bitterly. Piper and Phoebe both raised their eyebrows at him, surprised by the acerbic tone. "Do you know where he goes every time he orbs out of here?" Leo asked.

"You told us you couldn't sense him," Piper said suspiciously. "You told us he was blocking you. How do you know where he goes?"

Leo shook his head and said, "He doesn't block me. He doesn't know how to block me, because no body has ever taught him _how_." He stopped for a moment, and took control of his temper. "Look, Piper, I'm sorry about snapping at you. I just…" he let the sentence hang, not knowing what to say.

Piper nodded and said, "Fine. Tell me where Chris goes."

"An arboretum here. One of the small San Francisco Arboretums," Leo replied after a moment's hesitation.

"So?" Phoebe asked. "What's so special about that?"

"Nothing. Not to _this_ Chris anyway," Leo replied. He met Piper's gaze for a moment, and noticed that Piper had gone very pale. "But I think Piper knows why it is important. Why don't you ask her?" Without another word, the disgruntled Elder orbed away.

"Piper?" Phoebe asked, turning to her sister. "What is it?"

Piper was silent for a moment, then she turned to her sister. Phoebe could see that she was shaking, so she reached out a hand to steady the older witch. Piper whispered, "The other Chris…he told me once…that was where he…where he proposed to Bianca."

Phoebe raised her eyebrows in shock. "Do you think he remembers any of that life?" she asked, instantly concerned.

"No, we would have heard about it if he did," Piper replied. "But he obviously feels a connection with that spot."

"Do you think he's met Bianca?" Phoebe questioned.

"God, I hope not," Piper replied.

* * *

Lynn walked over to the door of her apartment and pulled it open. She stared at the man who had been knocking and bit back the urge to tell him to leave. Instead, she forced herself to act cordially and said, "Hello, Chris." 

"Hi, Lynn," Chris replied. "Is Bianca here? I need to talk to her."

Lynn nodded and stepped to the side. "Yes, she is." Chris entered the apartment, and Lynn called out to her daughter, "Bianca? Company."

Bianca walked into the living room, a confused expression on her face. The expression changed into a grin when she saw Chris. "Hey! How did you know I was here?" she asked. Although she still lived in San Francisco, she had not lived with her mother for several years. She was at her mother's for a visit, and was surprised that Chris had managed to find her.

"I sensed for you," Chris answered.

"Right," Bianca replied. "Sorry, that was a stupid question. Come on in." She beckoned for him to follow her to the kitchen. Chris walked after the Phoenix and sat down at the kitchen table. Lynn did not join them.

"I don't think your mother likes me," Chris said softly.

Bianca shrugged and smiled. "No, I don't think she does either. But I like you, so who cares what my mother thinks?" She sat down across from Chris and tilted her head to one side. "Are you okay?" she asked, concerned. "You look freaked about something."

"Yeah…" Chris ran a hand through his hair and said, "I was at that arboretum today and something really weird happened."

As Chris explained what had happened, Lynn stood, hidden behind the door, listening. She tensed as Chris finished his story and sucked in a sharp breath. She knew what it meant. After she had been visited by the future version of her daughter all those years, she had done some investigating, spying on the Charmed Ones to figure out what her daughter had been after. It had come as a shock to find out that her daughter had been engaged to the Halliwell's future white-lighter, and even more of a shock to find out that that white-lighter had really been a child of a Charmed One.

When this timeline's Bianca had brought Chris over to meet Lynn a few years ago, Lynn had instantly recognized him and had initially panicked. She had gotten over her panic, but still had not managed to bring herself to like Chris. And she had not been pleased when their relationship had changed from friends to significant others.

Twenty-three years ago, Future Bianca had told her something, given her a piece of advice.

_You want to help me? Some day in the future when I ask you what it feels like to kill, don't lie to me. Don't tell me you don't feel a thing._

And for the most part she had respected her daughter's wishes, and told her the truth about everything. Except this. Except Chris.

But she had done one favor for Bianca, and told her right away that Chris was the son of a Charmed One, and advised Bianca to keep the relationship secret from his family. She knew they would not be accepting of Bianca, and the relationship would be brought to a quick and unpleasant end. And although Lynn desperately wanted the relationship to end, she could not bring herself to do that to her daughter.

Chris had agreed to Bianca's proposal to keep the relationship hidden. Lynn had discovered, mostly from eavesdropping on conversations between Chris and her daughter, that Chris was left out of the magical part of his family's life. And she understood Piper's reasoning, because the mother had already lost her son once. But she also saw how, since Chris was forced out of that part of his family's life, he had taken to keeping his own secrets, his own hidden life.

It would hurt the family, Lynn had no doubt of that. Too many secrets were a very bad thing, she had learned that from Future Bianca. And when she had initially decided not to tell Bianca about what had happened twenty-three years ago, she had also promised herself that, if it ever came down to it, if Bianca ever directly asked, she would tell her the truth. She would not make the same mistake twice, she would not let secrets and lies tear apart her family again.

But Lynn had always secretly hoped that her daughter would never ask. However, listening to Chris tell his story, she knew the time was approaching when all the secrets would come crashing forth.

* * *

In the darkness of the Underworld, in a hidden cave, the Seer stared at her pool. She watched in interest as Chris finished his story and Bianca leaned back in her chair to look at him. She waved her hand over to the black water, and it changed to a different image, one of Piper and Phoebe, sitting in Chris' room, talking. She waved her hand once more, and the pool displayed a picture of Leo, on the Golden Gate Bridge, lost in thought. In one hand, the Elder was clutching the picture he had saved all those years ago, the one of baby Wyatt and Future Chris. 

The Seer smiled to herself in satisfaction. "You've tried to keep the past hidden for twenty-three years. But soon you will find out that the past will never stay buried. It will come, clawing its way to the surface, and when it does, I will be there."

She placed her hands on either side of the pool, and the water turned back to black.

* * *

Next Chapter: The Demon's Gambit 

Due: Friday 10/28


	3. The Demon's Gambit

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: You might want to read the response to the reviews below (especially to bunn2007 and Shoequeeny) because they help explain some aspects of the story.

Re: bunn2007: I really like Bianca also, so don't worry, she isn't going to be villainized or anything. She just won't be in the story much during the middle. As for the Seer, yes, this is THE SEER (the one who prophesized for the Source and tried to steal Phoebe and Cole's baby). She came back to life, which will be explained in a later chapter.

Re: Leigh1986: Thanks for giving it a second chance! The first few chapters focus on Chris and his family, but I've brought other family members and their issues into it as well, as you will see in this chapter. Also, the main plot of the story, which won't actually be relvealed until the tenth or eleventh chapter, has less to do with Piper and Leo lying to Chris, and more to do with...well, I can't actually tell you, but keep reading and you'll see. Sorry, that was really mean. :)

Re: Kitty-Witty-Kate: Thanks for the review. Keep reading (and reviewing) please! Here's the next chapter for you.

Re: CharmedOne24: I know, poor Piper trying to keep her son safe and it ends up making Chris angry at her. She has a legitimate reason to want to protect her son, but she just took it a little too far. Still, people do crazy things when they are worried about the ones they love.

Re: rozzy07: I'm so glad you liked it. I'm writing as fast as I can! At the end of each chapter, I say when the next chapter will be posted, and I promise to keep to that timeline.

Re: AlexisHaliwell89: Glad you liked it! I'm trying to write quickly, and post as frequently as possible. Keep reading and reviewing!

Re: Wonder5413: I'm happy you liked the story. Don't worry, it is going to keep going. I've got at least twenty chapters currently planned, and it might get longer depending on how long it takes to resolve the different issues that come up during the course of the story.

Re: Shoequeeny: I'm so glad you noticed that Piper's fears were turning Chris into the exact same secretive person she was trying to keep him from becoming. I was just trying to hint at that idea for now, but it is a major point in the story, and it is going to come back to haunt Piper in later chapters.

As always, please read and review!

* * *

Chapter Two: The Demon's Gambit

A pair of icy yellow eyes watched as the oldest Charmed One left her younger son's room and walked down to the sunroom. The eyes then turned to the middle Charmed One, who was staring around the room in confusion. She sensed something or someone out of place, but seeing nothing, she shrugged and walked out of the room.

The demon allowed the rest of his body to materialize and walked around the room slowly. He could feel the echoes of rage in this room. It clung to the walls and covered the floor. The boy who lived here was not pleased, and the demon could take advantage of that.

The demon walked over to the bed and sprinkled the pillow case with a light dust. Dream dust. Difficult to procure, but powerfully magical. It would give the Seer access to the boy's dreams, and she would be able to send him any dream she wanted. Like memories of another lifetime… Like oxygen to feed the flames, the dreams would bring the boy closer to his breaking point. And when he found out that his family had kept a secret, a very big secret, from him for all these years…

The Charmed Ones would never know what hit them.

The demon took one last look at the room, then flamed out.

* * *

Chris orbed back to the manor later in the day. He appeared in the sunroom, and quickly sensed for his mother. She was in the kitchen. He debated orbing to his room to avoid having to confront her, but he knew that he could not postpone a confrontation forever. He swallowed his worry and walked into the kitchen. 

Piper turned at the sound footsteps. She was just pulling a batch of cookies out of the oven, when her younger son appeared in the doorway. She stared at him for a moment, then said, "Have a seat."

Chris nodded and obeyed the command, knowing he was either in for a stern lecture, or a guilt trip. He sat rigidly in the chair, waiting. Piper placed the sheet of cookies on a cooling rack on the counter and turned to Chris. "Where were you?" she asked.

"Out. Thinking," Chris replied shortly.

"Where is out?" Piper asked.

"Just out," Chris replied. He didn't know why he was hiding this from his mother, but something told him that she would not be pleased if she knew he had been at Bianca's. She didn't even know Bianca, but some sixth sense told Chris the two would not get along. He had been secretly relieved when Bianca had suggested keeping their relationship secret.

Piper nodded. "I see," she replied. "And what is this about you destroying your room?"

Chris considered lying, but decided against it. "I was upset, I threw some stuff around. It wasn't a big deal, and I cleaned everything up."

"With magic," Piper stated calmly. "You cleaned everything up with magic."

"Yes," Chris answered simply. "I did."

"Personal gain, Chris," Piper reprimanded him.

Chris rolled his eyes and snapped back, "Because you and the Aunts never use spells to clean up the house."

Piper raised an eyebrow at him and replied in a stern voice, "That is different. And don't you dare use that tone with me, Christopher."

"Oh, so now you are using my full name?" Chris spat. He stood up, all intentions of controlling his temper forgotten. "I'm not three, Mom, I'm twenty-three, and you can't keep ruling my life!"

Piper seemed taken aback by Chris' outburst. Softening her tone, she said "I'm not trying to rule your life, Chris. But you can't use magic for personal gain."

"What is the point of having powers if not to use them?" Chris asked in annoyance.

"They are for protecting innocents," Piper explained in the patient tone of someone explaining that two and two is four to a particularly dense five-year-old.

Chris smiled at the irony of the comment. "They would be for protecting innocents if you would ever let me fight demons. But no, I'm not allowed. I'm not strong enough!"

"I am just trying to keep you safe," Piper snapped. She and Chris had had this argument many times in the past, but she resolutely stuck to her decision. Chris would have a normal life, and nothing anyone said would change her mind on that. "You can have a normal life, Chris."

"I'm not normal, Mom!" Chris snapped back. "When are you going to open your eyes and realize that?" He shoved the chair backwards and away from him. It scraped across the floor, hovered for a moment on it's two back legs, then fell to the ground. Chris hardly noticed this, he was glaring at his mother in anger.

"Chris!" Piper cried.

"Don't _Chris_ me, Mom." Chris took a deep breath and said, "Wyatt can fight, because he is Twice Blessed. My cousins can fight because they are the next Charmed Ones. So where does that leave me? I'm not a normal mortal, but you won't let me be a witch, so I get stuck in between two worlds, neither of which seem to want me."

"Chris, sweetheart, it isn't like that," Piper began, tears in her eyes. She took a deep breath and reached out to place a hand on her son's shoulder, but Chris shrugged her off.

"You tell me that every time I try and talk to you. But it _is_ like that, Mom. It always has been. You just can't see it." Chris met his mother's eyes for a moment, then orbed up to his room.

Piper stared at the spot where he had stood, tears pouring from her eyes. She slowly turned to see Phoebe standing in the door, looking at her. The two met each other's gaze for a moment, then Piper said, "Can you give me a moment?"

Phoebe nodded and walked out of the kitchen. As she made her way over to the wicker loveseat, she saw Paige orb in and walk into the kitchen.

"Phoebe?" Jason asked as he walked over to his wife. He sat down next to her on the loveseat and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright?" He had not witnessed any of the argument between Chris and Piper having only arrived at the house a minute before.

Phoebe looked at her husband and nodded, forcing an awkward smile. "Of course, sweetie," she replied. "I'm fine. Did you have a good day at work?"

Jason raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "You know, Phoebe, you and I work in the same office, so you would know how my day went. And you have never been particularly good at lying. What's wrong?"

"It's nothing," Phoebe said. She looked at the kitchen where her sisters were currently talking in hushed voices. "It really is nothing."

Jason stood up abruptly and said, "Fine. Tell Piper I can't stay for dinner, I have work to do. I'll see you and Prue when you two get home, okay?" He turned to leave without waiting for a response, while Phoebe stared at him in shock.

"Jason!" Phoebe jumped up and ran after her husband. She caught up to him in the hall. "What do you mean you have work? It's a family dinner, they'll expect you here."

"Piper will understand," Jason replied. "I have to get back to work."

"This isn't about work, and you know it. Tell me the truth," Phoebe ordered.

"The truth? You actually have the nerve to stand there and order me to tell you the truth?" Jason asked, somewhat incredulous. "Fine, the truth is that I am annoyed that my wife is clearly lying to me."

"I'm not lying, Jason," Phoebe retorted heatedly.

Jason rolled his eyes and said, "Sure you aren't. And it is just a coincidence that I can see your wisdom teeth when you smile. I _know_ when you are lying, Phoebe."

"Maybe I can't tell you. Maybe it isn't my problem to tell? Did you even think of that?" Phoebe snapped.

Jason opened his mouth to respond, then stopped and frowned at something over Phoebe's shoulder. Phoebe glanced behind her and saw her eighteen-year-old daughter standing on the stairs, listening to the argument in silence. "Prue, why don't you go tell Wyatt and Chris to come down?" Phoebe said quickly. Prue, recognizing that her mother wanted to talk to her father in private, nodded and hurried back up the stairs. Phoebe waited until her daughter was gone, then turned back to Jason. "Jason…"

Jason held up a hand to stop her. "Look, Phoebe, I understand your reluctance to tell me a secret you don't think is yours to tell. And I respect that. In fact, I love you for it, for the way you value other's privacy. But…everything is always someone else's problem. You confide in your sisters more often than you even talk to me. You refuse to let me into your magic life at all. I can't be there when you discuss demons, when you fight demons, when _anything_ magical is happening. And at first I thought it was just because you didn't know me that well, then I thought it was because you weren't sure how I would react to the whole magic thing, then I figured it was because you wanted to keep me safe from all the demonic attacks that happen. But I can't keep making excuses for it, and I can't keep pretending that it doesn't bother me when you don't let me into your life. And now you don't let me into the magical part of Prue's life either. I'm not okay with that anymore. And I don't know how much longer our relationship can last if you keep pushing me away."

"What are you saying?" Phoebe asked slowly, fearfully.

"You are the relationship advice columnist. How healthy or stable do you think a relationship based on secrets is?" Jason asked. There was a pause, then he shrugged and said, "Tell Piper I'm sorry to miss her cooking." He turned and walked out the door.

* * *

"You didn't try and talk to Chris?" Paige asked her oldest sister as she set the table. Piper shook her head and replied, "No, I didn't. Paige, what was I suppose to say?" 

"I don't know, but letting him disappear like that…Piper you have to talk to him." Paige placed the last plate on the table and straightened up. She looked around the kitchen to make sure they weren't being overheard, then leaned towards Piper and whispered, "I know that you are overly protective of him. And I understand why. But Chris doesn't understand that, and if you keep refusing to tell him, you'll push him away."

Piper nodded and said, "I know. You are right, I know that. But I don't know what to do, what to say to him."

"Try the truth," Paige said. "Tell him what happened all those years ago. Tell him why you feel this way about him, why you are so protective."

"Tell him that he died? That we couldn't protect him, and that the brother he idolizes was evil?" Piper asked softly. "You want me to tell him that?"

"He has a right to know," Paige replied.

"Why?" a voice from the doorway asked. Paige and Piper turned to see Phoebe walking into the room. She was staring at Paige in confusion. "Why would we tell him that? It's over, done with."

"Because you can't keep basing your decisions on what happened to the other Chris without telling this one why you are acting the way you are. Can't you see you are pushing him away?" Paige replied.

Phoebe shook her head and replied, "I'm with Piper. I mean, we are trying to protect him, but he just doesn't see that. So he keeps demanding answers, but sooner or later he is going to have to realize that he needs to trust us, to trust that we know what we are doing."

Both Piper and Paige looked at Phoebe, surprised at the venom and frustration in her voice. Neither sister commented on it, however, because they both knew it wasn't directed at Chris.

Phoebe took a breath to calm her frayed nerves and mentally reminded herself that they were talking about Chris. Not Jason. "I just don't think telling him all that is a good idea. Why would we hurt him or Wyatt with that news?"

Paige sighed and shook her head. "He's your son, Piper, and we will all abide by what you decide. But sooner or later, Chris is going to start demanding real answers. I just hope you know what to say to him when that say comes."

* * *

The Seer and the demon leaned over the pool and watched this argument between the sisters. "So, the sisters are split on what to do?" the Seer said softly. "It will make it all the easier to break them apart." 

"And the Elder and the mortal," the demon pointed out. "They each have their sides in this family feud. They will split apart as well."

"This is getting too easy," the Seer murmured. "And yet…" she waved her hand and the pool changed back to black, "I'm not complaining."

The demon smiled wickedly and nodded. "No, I am not either," he responded. "Are your ready to send the dreams?" The Seer nodded, and the demon continued, "Good. Very, very good." He looked at the black water of the pool and said, "We, my friend, will finally succeed where the others have failed. Within the week, the Charmed Ones will be dead." He flamed away, and the Seer turned back to her pool.

* * *

Dinner had been a silent affair, and Chris left the table as quickly as possible. It was now night, and he lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, waiting for sleep to claim him. But try as he might, he couldn't get his eyes to close. Instead, he stared up at the ceiling and thought back to the voices he had heard at the arboretum. 

One had been his, he knew that for a fact. The other he thought might have been Bianca's. It certainly sounded like hers. But what did it mean? And why did it seem so familiar to him?

He pondered the question until his eyelids finally grew heavy and he drifted off to sleep. As his mind entered the dreamland, the invisible powder on his pillow gave off a sudden burst of eerie blue light. Dreams began to flood into his mind, dreams that seemed so real they could have been memories.

"_That's always been your problem, Chris. Stuck in the old good versus evil mores. I'm so past that. It's all about power, it's as simple as that."_

"_Chris, we don't need your help anymore. I will get my son back myself, and when I do, I never want to see you again. Understand?"_

"_You were never there for me. You were there for everyone else…Mom, Wyatt, half the world, but you were never there for me. You didn't have the time."_

Chris began to toss and turn, his skin slick with sweat. He mumbled in his sleep as the dreams became more and more vivid. He began to gasp for breath as the pain of a different lifetime came settling down on him. He couldn't wake up from the nightmare.

Miles below the sleeping witch-lighter, the Seer looked at her pool, and smiled.

* * *

Next Chapter: The Picture 

Due: Wednesday 11/2


	4. The Picture

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Re: Kitty-Witty-Kate: I know, I felt sorry for Piper also, even if she really should tell Chris the truth.. Like all parents, she is only trying to do what she thinks is best for her children. Her life is just a little bit more complicated because she is Charmed.

Re: Calen: Yes, Chris is twenty-three. And yes, he lives at home. And if you read this chapter, you will find out why. :)

Re: bunn2007: Yes, the Seer is very sneaky. Very intelligent too. She was actually one of my favorite villains, because I never really thought the Source was that scary without her. And she always seemed so cunning because she managed to trick Cole into becoming the Source. Of course, I also hated her for that...

Re:CharmedOne24: Funny you should ask for more of the Chris-Wyatt relationship. That is a major focus of this chapter, and you'll get to see even more of it in the next chapters. So, read on.

Re: Martina G: Thanks for the review. I'm glad you like it so far, and keep reading (and reviewing).

Re: rozzy07: Yes, the angst is definitely being cranked up. And there will be much more drama. But actually, the current family issues are more of a starting point, and (although the issues will still be there throughout the rest of the story) the real focus and plot will be revealed in later chapters. But I don't want to give too much away, so keep reading. :)

Re: NothingButSarah: Glad you like it! I am trying to update about once a week. I post the name and date of the next chapter at the bottom of each previous chapter so that you know when to expect the next installment. Please keep reading.

As always, read and review.

* * *

Chapter Three: The Picture

"Okay, so was it like a premonition?" Wyatt asked. He was perched on the edge of Prue's bed. Prue was sitting on the chair by her desk, and Chris was leaning against the wall by her door. The three were hanging out at Phoebe's and Jason's house today because it was Saturday, and none of them had anything else to do.

"No, not exactly," Chris replied. "I don't really know what it was." Chris started pacing across the floor in agitation.

Prue frowned and said, "And you didn't tell Aunt Piper and Uncle Leo?"

"No," Chris replied shortly. "I couldn't. I mean, that haven't even met Bianca and I have been dating her for two years. How am I suppose to tell them that I am now having sort-of premonitions of proposing to her? It would raise too many questions."

"Like how you could be dating someone for two years and not tell any of your family?" Wyatt replied evenly. "I'm actually a little curious about that myself." He folded his arms over his chest and glared at Chris in annoyance. This was the brother who told him _everything_, how could he keep something as important as a two-year relationship secret?

"Me too," Prue added.

Chris grimaced and said, "Well I am telling you now. Better late the never, right?"

'Two years late, Chris. You used to confide everything to us. How could you let something that big slip? And don't tell me you forgot," Prue retorted.

Chris paused by the bed and grabbed a pillow, a large feather pillow with a pink pillowcase, and hurled it at Prue. She caught it and stuck her tongue out at Chris. Wyatt rolled his eyes at their antics and said, "Wow, you two really know how to act grown up."

"Look, I just didn't tell you. But I am telling you now, and I really need your help because this is creeping me out."

"Maybe you should tell Mom and Dad," Wyatt said. "You've been keeping a lot secret from them, but sooner or later they are going to have to find out. This…what did you say her name was…Bianca?…is not going to want to be kept a secret forever. Girls don't like that."

"Actually, it was her idea. And since when do you give me advice on girls, Wy? You've never been able to keep a girl interested for more than two minutes," Chris replied, grinning.

"Hey, Courtney and I are doing just fine, thank you very much, and it has been a full year!" Wyatt replied in mock anger. He smiled fondly at the mention of his girlfriend. Things were going well with her, and, unlike his past significant others, she had not freaked out when she found out he was a witch.

"Yeah, and how many girls dropped you after one date before you met Courtney? A few hundred?" Chris shot back, a grin on his face. He could tell by the far away look in his brother's eyes that his relationship with Courtney was getting serious. He was glad, because he genuinely liked the girl.

"It was Bianca's idea not to tell Aunt Piper and Uncle Leo?" Prue broke into the boys' conversation, confused. "Why would she want that?"

Chris sighed and sat down next to Wyatt on the bed. "Because she's a Phoenix."

"A what?" Prue asked.

But Wyatt had recognized the name of the coven and his eyes went wide with shock. "You are dating an assassin? Are you insane?"

"She isn't an assassin. At least, she isn't following in her coven's footsteps. She is going to be a lawyer," Chris replied, defending his girlfriend.

"So she gave up being an assassin to be a lawyer. How ironic," Wyatt deadpanned. His face growing serious, he lifted concerned eyes and held his younger brother's gaze for a moment. "How do you know she isn't evil? She is a demon".

"What?" Prue interjected. "What do you mean she is a demon?"

"She is not a demon. She had demonic powers, but a lot of witches have demonic powers," Chris snapped. "It doesn't make her evil."

"And yet, they are called _demonic_ powers for a reason," Wyatt responded. His concern for his little brother was growing as Chris seemed to be so infatuated with this woman that he could not see the danger he was in.

"Powers are not inherently good or evil. It all depends on who uses them and what they are used to do," Chris replied heatedly, glaring at his brother.

"Okay, is anyone going to tell me what a Phoenix is or an I going to have to guess?" Prue demanded, taking advantage of the momentary silence.

Wyatt turned to Prue and said, "Phoenixes are a coven of elite assassin witches. They have demonic and witch powers. They are very loyal to each other, which is part of the reason the coven has endured for so long."

"Well, if Bianca hasn't tried to kill Chris yet, then I'm guessing she probably isn't a threat," Prue commented after digesting the information Wyatt gave her. "And I agree with Chris about the whole powers not being good or evil thing." She turned to Chris. "And I get why you didn't tell your parents, and why Bianca wouldn't have wanted to meet the family, but I think you are going to have to tell them eventually. Secrets are not good for a relationship." There was something in tone that made both Wyatt and Chris stare at her in surprise and concern.

"Prue?" Chris asked softly. "Something wrong?"

Prue paused for a moment, then said, "I overheard my Mom and Dad arguing yesterday right before dinner. Dad left because of the argument…" She ran a hand through her hair and continued, "He doesn't like being pushed out of the magical part of our lives. He doesn't like Mom keeping secrets."

"Your parents are always arguing about that," Wyatt pointed out. "I'm sure this is nothing new and nothing big."

"It's gotten worse lately. Dad said he wasn't sure the relationship could survive," Prue replied. A few tears welled up in her eyes and she brushed them away angrily. "He said he didn't like being kept out of my life as well."

"He said all of this with you there?" Chris asked.

"No, I wasn't suppose to be there. Mom had told me to leave, but I…" Hid behind the banister at the top of the stairs to listen to my parents discuss their possibly ruined marriage. Prue couldn't say the words, so she let the sentence hang, and stared miserably at the ground.

Wyatt got up and walked over to Prue. He pulled her into a hug and said, "Listen to me, Prue. Everything is going to be okay. Your father understands. He is a little upset, but he does understand."

Chris, however, said nothing. His silence caused both Wyatt and Prue to look at him. He shifted, clearly uncomfortable, then said, "He had a point, though. Being kept out of everything magical. That is a big part of your life, and he is missing out on it." Chris resumed pacing and said, "And maybe he doesn't like that. Maybe he doesn't want to be kept out of what he feels he has a right to be a part of. Maybe it makes him feel left out and unwanted and maybe that is part of the problem. Maybe it isn't all his fault."

Prue tilted her head back and regarded Chris through unreadable eyes. At last, she said, "We aren't talking about my dad anymore, are we?" Chris said nothing, and Prue continued, "I know you don't like being kept out of all of this, but it really is not that great. I have to put up with two annoying cousins so that I can make up a new Power of Three, and Wyatt gets attacked by demons every week."

"But I'm the only one," Chris replied bitterly, pausing to look at his brother.

"What?" Wyatt asked, confused.

"I'm the only one who is kept out. The rest of the family can all meet and talk about demons, but Mom still doesn't let me in on those discussions. It is like you all have this other world, this part of your life that I can never hope to be included in. I don't like missing out on this. I don't like being on the outside, watching everyone else act like a family. It makes me feel…invisible."

"You aren't invisible," Wyatt replied, shocked that his brother would feel that way. "I know you don't ever train as extensively as I do, but…"

"I don't train at all," Chris snapped. "Mom never let me go to magic school. As long as I knew how to orb so I could orb myself away from a demon, that was all that mattered."

"Well, you learned how to control your telekinesis on your own, didn't you?" Wyatt replied.

Chris laughed bitterly and shook his head. "No, I didn't. Dad used to orb in at night and take me up to Elder Land so I could train in secret. I never would have learned if it wasn't for him."

"Dad did that without telling Mom?" Wyatt asked. "Is this entire family keeping secrets from each other?"

Chris sighed and didn't answer the question. Instead, he resumed pacing. After a moment of silence, he said, "Sometimes it feels like Mom is smothering me. Like everyone is smothering me. I mean... do you remember when I tried to get my own place?"

Last year, after graduating from UCLA, Chris had moved out into an apartment close to P3. He had found a part time job working as an assistant in the same social services office Paige had worked out when she first met her sisters, while also picking up a few shifts a week at the bar in his mother's club. He had felt free, like he was able to live his own life. He had been able to invite Bianca to his apartment without worrying that his parents would walk in on them. He had been able to go where he wanted, when he wanted, and not worry that his mother would call 'just to make sure he was safe.'

And then the attack had come.

He had barely managed to avoid being killed. The place had been trashed, and he had escaped with three dark-lighter arrows in his chest. Only a combination of Leo's healing powers and his own stubborn refusal to die had saved his life.

Within a matter of days the entire magical community had known about the attack. The Elders informed Leo that they had heard rumors that the Underworld had decided to target him because since he was on his own, he was easy pickings. So Piper had insisted that he move back to the Manor until they took care of the threat.

But the threat never went away. And so he was still living with his parents, still stuck in the house he wanted to escape. And part of him understood why he had to stay there. Even with extensive training, he would never be able to take on the entire Underworld. He just wasn't that powerful. Moving out of the Manor would have been suicide.

"Is that why you didn't tell us about Bianca?" Prue said suddenly, cutting into his thoughts with an unusually shrewd look on her face. "Because you wanted a part of your life that was all your own since you were forced to stay at home, but still kept out of magic?"

Chris didn't answer, and Wyatt said, "Well, now that you have told us about her, I say we get the chance to meet her." Chris glared at him and opened his mouth to respond, but Wyatt, guessing what his brother was going to say, said quickly, "And I promise I won't say anything about her being evil." He held up his hands in mock surrender.

"And the three of us will get to the bottom of your weird premonition thing, together," Prue promised. "We're family, after all."

Chris looked at his cousin and his brother and couldn't help but smile.

* * *

Bianca sat on the loveseat in her apartment, staring out of the window. She watched as a few fluffy white clouds made their lazy way across the incredibly blue sky. The beach spread out below her window, the golden sand glistening in the sun. It was another perfect autumn day in San Francisco, and the Phoenix felt way too warm and comfortable to actually do any work. 

At the sounds of orbs behind her, Bianca turned around, expecting Chris. She was surprised to see two figures step out of the mass of lights. One was Chris, the other was a slightly taller, blonde-haired, blue-eyed man. Bianca had never seen Wyatt before, but she could tell by the amount of power radiating off of him that this was the prophesized Twice Blessed One. She frowned slightly at Wyatt, feeling a sudden, inexplicable, surge of fear

There was a momentary silence, then Bianca said abruptly, "You know, Chris, your brother doesn't look a thing like you."

Chris smiled while Wyatt looked slightly taken aback by the blunt comment. "Wy, this is my girlfriend, Bianca. Bianca, this is my brother, Wyatt," Chris said, quickly making introductions to forestall the awkward silence that was about to settle over the group.

Bianca smiled and said politely, "Nice to meet you, Wyatt." She turned to Chris and jerked her head to the side. Chris nodded and stepped away from Wyatt. Bianca followed and the two crossed the room. Once they were out of Wyatt's hearing range, they began to talk in hushed whispers.

"What happened to not telling your family?"

"I needed to tell someone about the weird premonition thing that I got. I told Wyatt and Prue, and I had to tell them about you since you were in it. Don't worry, Wyatt won't spill the secrets," Chris explained.

Bianca nodded apprehensively. She glanced over at Wyatt, who was now staring out of the window, allowing the couple their privacy. "It's weird…"

"What?" Chris asked.

"I feel like…I get the same feeling from Wyatt that I did when I first met you," Bianca said slowly.

"Like you know him already?" Chris questioned. He too glanced at his brother and frowned. Things just kept getting weirder and weirder...

Bianca nodded and ran a hand through her hair. "Yes, but…"

"But what?"

"I don't think I like him," Bianca replied. She looked at Chris and sighed. "Actually, I think I am afraid of him." She bit her lip, contemplating what to say next. How could she explain the terror and hatred that felt so real? She didn't even know Wyatt, how could she feel such strong dislike for him?

"That doesn't make any sense," Chris said. "You aren't afraid of me, how could you be afraid of Wyatt?"

Bianca shrugged and met Chris' gaze. She shifted uncomfortably, then turned and called out to Wyatt, "Do you want anything to drink? Water, juice, soda?"

Wyatt turned around and said, "Some water would be great, thank you." Bianca nodded and headed towards the kitchen, squeezing Chris' shoulder as she passed him.

Wyatt waited until Bianca was in the kitchen before turning to his brother and saying, "She didn't seem pleased to meet me."

Chris crossed the room and shook his head, replying, "It wasn't that. She's just a little surprised because she didn't know I was going to tell anyone in my family about her." He didn't think it was a good idea to tell Wyatt about Bianca's...what should he even call it? Like his weird memory, her 'feelings' weren't premonitions, but they seemed related. And yet, as far as he knew, no Phoenix witch had powers like that. And he knew he certainly didn't.

"Well, I'll give you this, Chris, you sure know how to pick them," Wyatt commented, bringing Chris out of his thoughts. He picked up a picture of Bianca and Lynn from the coffee table and stared at it. "She's got one hell of a body."

Chris grinned at his brother and replied suggestively, "You have no idea…"

At that moment, Bianca walked back into the room carrying three glasses of water. She handed one to Wyatt and one to Chris, then took a sip of her own drink. She was still staring at Wyatt with suspicious eyes, unable to shake the feeling that she knew him. And definitely didn't like him.

"So…what brings you here?" Bianca asked, trying to start a conversation.

"I just wanted to get to know the person my brother has been dating for two years," Wyatt answered calmly. He stared at the Phoenix, noting the way she carried herself. She may be reformed, but she certainly had the aura of someone who possessed the ability to kill swiftly and easily. A true assassin.

"Maybe we should sit down?" Chris said, hoping to break the uneasy silence.

"Sure," Bianca replied, gesturing to the sofa. Chris took a seat on the sofa while Bianca quickly cleared off the armchair for Wyatt. As she moved a box of papers and two books from the chair, an athame slipped from the cushion and fell to the floor. Bianca quickly summoned it to her hand and walked over to a cabinet by the wall. She pulled the doors of the cabinet open to reveal two shelves of athames and potion's bottles, a Grimoire, and a few candles. She placed the athame on the shelf and shut the cabinet with a snap.

Bianca turned to see a set of suspicious blue eyes trained on her.

"So, what do you do for a living, Bianca?" Wyatt asked causally, switching his gaze to the now closed cabinet. "I hear you aren't in the family business anymore?"

Bianca tensed slightly, but refused to take the bait. She shook her head and said, "No, I'm not. I'm a law student." She hesitated, then continued politely, "What do you do?"

"I'm in medical school," Wyatt answered casually. "With demon hunting on the side." He narrowed his eyes and said softly, "You know, demons that mess with my family tend to meet unhappy demises…"

"Wyatt!" Chris hissed, glaring at his brother in anger. He chanced a brief glance at Bianca and saw that she had stiffened. Her hands were clenched into fists at her side, her knuckles white.

"Well, magical beings, good or evil, that make threats to my daughter, tend to meet an unhappy demise as well," a voice said, cutting into the conversation.

Bianca spun around in surprise, and all eyes turned to the woman who had just shimmered into the apartment. "Mom!" Bianca said. "I didn't realize you were coming over today."

"You left your sweater at my apartment. I thought I would drop it off on my way out to work," Lynn replied, tossing a navy blue sweater onto the sofa. She continued to glare at Wyatt, the man that she knew was most likely responsible for the hell that the other version of her daughter had grown up in.

"I think we had better go," Chris said quickly walking over to his brother and grabbing him by the arm. He shot an apologetic look at Bianca and orbed away, taking Wyatt with him.

Bianca turned to her mother and said, "What the hell was that for!"

"He was threatening you!" Lynn shot back. "Am I not allowed to be protective of my only daughter?"

Bianca rolled her eyes and replied, "He wasn't going to hurt me, Mom. Chris wouldn't have let him. Besides, he's on the side of good, remember? He isn't going to go around murdering people."

Lynn grabbed Bianca's arm and said in a deathly serious voice, "Don't underestimate Wyatt, Bianca." Her eyes burned into her daughter's, and Bianca was the first to look away. Lynn dropped her daughter's arm and shimmered away.

* * *

Prue wandered slowly through the sunroom of the manor, listening as her mother and Aunt Piper talked quietly about some demon that had attacked. She and her mother had been out shopping when the demon came out of nowhere, and tried to kill her. Fortunately no on saw them use their powers. Then the two had headed over to the manor so that Phoebe could check the Book. 

Prue ran her hand over to wicker loveseat, then walked over to the mantle above the fireplace. She peered at all the pictures there. Lifting one up, she smiled at it. It was a picture of Chris and Wyatt when they were younger, playing at the park. As she held the picture in both hands, she felt herself suddenly sucked into a premonition.

_Piper was destroying some pictures, throwing them into the flames. Leo was watching her in silence, but when Piper's back was turned, he picked up a picture and quickly hid it._

Prue opened her eyes and frowned, unsure of what the premonition meant. She turned and glanced over at her mother and Aunt who were so deep in conversation that they did not notice her. Quickly replacing the picture, she slipped out of the room.

Standing in the hallway, she looked around, wondering if she should call Chris and Wyatt to tell them what she had seen. Deciding against it, she headed up the stairs. At the first floor, she paused and looked down the hallway.

_Try Uncle Leo and Aunt Piper's room._

She didn't know where the idea came from, but it suddenly appeared in her mind. Hurrying across the hallway, she slowly pushed the door to her aunt and uncle's room open and stepped inside.

_The closet. A box at the back._

Again the idea came from nowhere, but she followed it without thinking. Pulling open the closet door, she searched around the shoes and boxes until she found what she was looking for. Pulling out the small box, she opened it and stared at the contents.

It was a picture. The edges were yellowed with age. It showed a twenty-something Chris playing with blocks on the kitchen floor. He was playing with a toddler who looked like a baby version of Wyatt. Who looked _exactly_ like a baby version of Wyatt…

_Turn the picture over._

Prue flipped open the picture and read the one line on the back.

Chris and Wyatt, 2004.

She stared at the picture, trying to understand what she was seeing, but it didn't make any sense. How could Chris be there? And how could he be playing with the baby version of his older brother?

* * *

The Seer stared at her pool for a moment, then turned to the demon who had flamed in next to her. "I didn't realize you had the power to send premonitions." 

"And influence thoughts through astral projection," the demon said smugly. "I didn't have that power. I picked it up a few days ago, though." He gestured to the pool and said, "It came in handy, sending the girl to find that picture, didn't it?"

He and the Seer looked at the image of Prue reflected in the pool. They watched as she replaced the shoe box, but kept the picture. Then the Seer turned back to the demon and flashed him a chilling smile. "Nicely done."

* * *

Next Chapter: Forgotten and Remembered 

Due: Tuesday 11/8


	5. Forgotten and Remembered

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: Wow, so many reviews! I'm flattered.  
Okay, so I know that in the show, Chris was supposed to have died on his twenty-third birthday, but I've decided to change it so that he died on his twenty-fourth. Which means that the year he was in the past, he was twenty-three. Also, the story takes place in autumn, so the age Chris is right now is the age that he was around the time of the begining of season six (Valhalla of the Dolls through Chris-Crossed). Does that make sense? It comes up in this chapter, so I thought I should make it clear. Also, you may want to read my response to the review by Karone Evertree, it helps to explain a few things.

Re: CharmedOne24: Thank you, I'm very flattered. This is the first time anyone has compared my writing to fruit. lol. Keep reading :)

Re: Sparkling Cherries: Thanks. Keep reading, and I'll try to update frecuently.

Re: Embry: I'm glad you liked it! Keep reading and reviewing, and I'll keep updating.

Re: elodoth: Thank you. Yes, I am trying to keep Chris relatively magically weak, as he was on the show. However, what he lacks for in power, he makes up for (or will make up for in later chapters) in brains. After all, we can only assume that he managed to stay out of evil Wyatt's clutches through his inteligence and cunning.

Re: teal-lover: Thank you. I'm trying to make the chapters interesting. Right now I am mostly working on setting up the plot. The actual conflict (the one that takes up most of the story and is the explanation for why I chose to name the story 'The Lost Future') will be revealed eventually. But I don't want to say anything to give it away.

Re: Karone Evertree: Thanks for the review! No, Piper's idea to have Chris live at home and keep him out of magic wasn't the smartest, but can you blame her? She's lost her son once, she panics when she almost loses him again. Besides, the Charmed Ones do seem to have the idea that, if they can keep their family together, they are invincible ("your power comes from your bond as sisters" and "we need the power of three under one roof"). As long as Chris is in the same house, they figure he will be safer. Also, this was mentioned briefly in Chapter 1, but Piper did make sure that Chris knew how to control his orbing so that he coudld orb to safety if he needed to.Okay, that was a really long answer, but I hope it made Piper's (flawed) reasoning a little more clear. As for Bianca, she will be here until Chapter 11 or 12 (although she won't be in all of those chapters), then she'll disapear until the very end. The entire story should be at least 50 chapters, so that is a really long time without Bianca. :)

Re: Calen: He'll snap. Don't worry, he's got a demon and the Seer working to make him snap, and he will. But not for a little longer, although you'll see signs of it in this chapter.

Re: Martina G: Thanks, I'm glad you like it so far. As for the identity of the demon, he's going to be called 'the demon' for a while, until I myself figure out more about him. Since he is mostly on the sidelines, I haven't given much thought to his identity yet.

Re: bunn2007: Thanks for the review. My belief is that the only reason Wyatt was turned was because of Gideon, and that he was only vulnerable enough to be turned when he was younger. Gideon's dead, and Wyatt's older, so he is going to remian 'good' for the story. I think. That's another thing I haven't really thought about. This story appears to have a life of its own, and I'm just trying to go with it. I doubt I know much more than you do about where this is headed.

Re: buffgirl: Thanks for the review, I'm glad you like it. Bianca will stay with us for a few more chapters (six or seven more) before she goes away from a while. Then she'll be back at the very end.

Re: Beleninwe: Burning pictures is supposed to symbolize a break with the past, denial, and an irreversable decision (or something like that). So yes, it is really sad. Which fits in with the plot, since Piper and Leo just lost their son.

* * *

Chapter Four: Forgotten and Remembered

"Hey…got a moment?" Phoebe asked, knocking on the door of Jason's office. She stepped into the room and shifted her weight nervously from one foot to the other.

"Sure," Jason replied. "Come on in." He turned to the woman he was talking to. "Okay, so I think that is everything, Nancy. Have the article on Elise's desk by noon tomorrow."

Nancy nodded and stood up. "No problem, Jason." She turned to Phoebe and smiled. "Morning, Phoebe."

"Morning, Nancy," Phoebe replied as the reporter stepped out of the office. Phoebe turned back at Jason and walked over to the chair in front of the desk. "I wanted to talk to you about the other night."

"Yeah…I figured we should probably talk about that," Jason replied. He walked around the desk and stood in front of Phoebe. Leaning back on the edge of his desk, he folded his arms across his chest and said, "So…"

"Yeah." Phoebe sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. Then she opened them and said, "Jason, I love you. And I am happy in this marriage. But I understand your concern."

Jason fixed Phoebe with a stare and then shook his head. "Do you? Really?" he asked softly. "Sometimes I'm not so sure."

"Do you understand my point of view?" Phoebe replied. "Every day I send my daughter, my sisters, my nieces and nephews, my brother-in-laws, and myself into danger. Is it so horrible to want to protect my husband?"

"No," Jason admitted. "But you can't always protect me."

"That is no reason for you to walk into unnecessary danger. You don't have to fight this battle. You get a chance at a normal life, something that all of us would kill for. Don't you see that?"

Jason looked at Phoebe for a long time, then turned and walked over to the window. He looked out over the city, contemplating his choices. Finally, he turned back to Phoebe. "What's going on with Piper and Chris?" he asked.

Phoebe swallowed. "What do you mean?" she asked, trying her best to remain calm.

"Don't give me that, Phoebe," Jason snapped back. "Piper and Chris have been at loggerheads for the past few years because Piper won't let him fight demons. And Piper constantly acts as though she has some great reason for treating Chris so differently from Wyatt, but she never elaborates on it. It's been getting worse lately. And Chris is spending more and more time 'out,' without ever telling anyone where he goes or what he does. Can't you see he has been keeping secrets too?"

"Jason…" Phoebe sighed and looked at her hands. "I can't tell you. They aren't my secrets to tell." She looked back up at Jason. "So you really think Chris has been keeping secrets from all of us?"

"Count on it," Jason replied grimly. "And I don't think he is the only one." He leaned back against the wall and shook his head. "You try so hard to keep me out of all of this, to give me a normal life. Don't you see that I don't want a normal life? I want the same life you have. I want to grow old with you, being a part of your family."

Phoebe laughed bitterly and replied, "You don't know what you want, Jason. If you had been through everything I've been through…you would understand."

"But I haven't been through any of it. I don't even know what you've been through because you won't let me in." Jason walked back to his desk and sat down. "You worry day in and day out about the next demon attack. But it isn't demons that are going to tear this family apart."

"We are strong. We'll get through whatever the problems are. We always have," Phoebe replied, confident in her family's ability to survive.

But Jason was not so sure. "I really wish I believed that…"

* * *

Chris looked at the picture. He flipped it over and read the words on the back. He looked at the picture again, then shook his head and handed it to Wyatt. The Twice Blessed Child looked at the picture, and he too flipped it over and read the words on the back. He put the picture down on the bed and looked over at Prue. 

"Okay, someone want to explain how that is possible?" Chris demanded.

Prue shrugged and replied, "I don't know. I have absolutely no idea. But…time travel, maybe? You go back in time at some point?"

"Why?" Chris asked, glancing over at Wyatt. "Why would I go and not Mom or Dad? Or even you, Wy? I hardly think our parents would send _me_ back in time."

"What do we do? Do we ask Aunt Piper and Uncle Leo about it?" Prue asked.

Chris weighed his options for a moment, then shook his head. "Not right now. I am going to show it to Bianca first and see what she says. Then maybe I'll talk to my parents."

"It should be Uncle Leo," Prue said slowly, thinking. "He would be the most likely to tell you the truth about all this." She stood up and walked over to the window. "And…I think we should tell Mel and Pen."

"Why?" Wyatt asked, confused.

"Because they are our cousins," Prue answered. She glanced over at Chris and said, "You don't like being kept out of major events in the family. Well, I don't think they like being kept out of things either."

"They aren't kept out," Chris snapped. "They go on vanquishes with you all the time."

"I meant social stuff, Chris. We never go to them with problems because they are so much younger than us," Prue pointed out. "Maybe we should include them in this…"

"She's got a point. They could help," Wyatt added.

Chris shrugged and said, "I told Bianca I wouldn't tell anyone in the family about us. I've already broken that promise with you two, I don't want to do it again. And I can't include the twins without telling them about her, so they are out."

"So your loyalty is to Bianca now?" Wyatt asked, annoyed. "I'm your brother, Chris. Prue is your cousin. Why is Bianca to important? I think you should be listening to your family over her…"

"Shut up, Wy!" Chris snapped. He stalked back to the bed and sat down. "You told me you would drop the whole her being evil thing and what do you do? You start accusing her the minute I introduce you."

"I got a bad reading off of her," Wyatt snapped. "She's dangerous, Chris. Why can't you see that?"

"She isn't dangerous," Chris answered coldly, his eyes filled with fury.

"About Pen and Mel," Prue cut in, wanting to bring Chris out of his black mood. She had, however, picked the wrong topic.

"Fine, tell them. Tell the entire family! Hell, why don't we tell the entire world that Christopher Halliwell is dating an assassin?" Chris snapped.

Wyatt and Prue both recoiled from the anger and malice in Chris' words. "Chris… just relax…" Wyatt said softly. He stared at his brother in growing concern.

"Don't tell me to relax! You don't get it, do you?" Chris snarled.

"Get what?" Prue asked.

"Never mind, just forget it," Chris said.

"Chris…"

"Forget it! Forget all of it. Forget the premonition, okay? Just forget that I ever asked you for help!" Chris all but screamed. With one more angry glare, he orbed away.

* * *

"Aunt Piper? Can I talk to you for a second?" Prue asked softly, knocking on the door her Aunt's bedroom. 

Piper looked up and smiled. "Sure, Prue. What's up?"

Prue stepped into the room and walked over to the bed. She sat down on it, and started to play with a strand of hair. Unable to meet Piper's eyes, she stared at the ground in an uncomfortable silence.

"Prue? What's wrong?" Piper asked, suddenly genuinely concerned.

Prue swallowed and slowly extended her hand to Piper. Piper reached out and took the picture that Prue was holding, puzzled. Her face suddenly paled as she looked down at the photo. She flipped it over and read the words on the back. Then she turned the picture back over and ran her index finger over Chris' face.

Twenty-three years she had tried to convince herself that the boy who had died in her bed had been reincarnated into her youngest son. Twenty-three years she had tried to convince herself that the two Chris' were one and the same. Twenty-three years she had tried to convince herself that she did not lose a son.

And in one brief moment, one old, yellowed picture reminded her quite forcefully of... She shook her head slowly and pushed the thought away. Her son was still alive.

"Where did you get this?" Piper asked.

"Your closet," Prue replied softly. She looked up at Piper, her brown eyes wide with apprehension. She waited for Piper to explode.

Strangely, Piper did not explode. Instead, she asked gently, "What were you doing in my closet?"

"I had a premonition," Prue explained. "I saw you burning pictures."

"And that automatically lead you to my closet?" Piper asked, still not understanding.

"No…I got the idea…I don't know why I got the idea. It came out of nowhere…I thought maybe it was another form of premonition…" Prue said, suddenly unsure. She ran a hand through her hair and smiled apologetically at Piper.

Piper got up and walked over to the window. "I think it is more likely a form of astral projection," she replied in a stangled voice, as though she had to struggle to get the words out.

"What?"

"Some demons have the ability to influence thoughts through astral projection," Piper explained. "We had quite a problem once with a demon who used it to try to get my sister Prue-your namesake-arrested for theft. What your describing sounds like astral projection to me." She took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. What if Prue showed the picture to Wyatt or Chris?

"So a demon sent me after a picture in your closet?" Prue asked skeptically. It didn't seem very probable.

Piper glanced over at Prue and shook her head. Think, she had to think. She had to say something, anything, to throw Prue off the trail. What was she supposed to do? Think, damn it! "I've never seen the picture before, Prue. A demon probably planted it." Prue still looked skeptical, but nodded. "However, I would like to get to the bottom of this, so can you bring the Book of Shadows down here?"

Prue nodded and stood up. She walked out of the room, thinking. Piper had clearly recognized the picture, but what she said about astral projection made sense. So that meant that Piper had hidden a picture of Chris and Wyatt that couldn't possibly exist, and that a demon had influenced her thoughts in order to get her to find it.

Prue blinked. Even in her head, that sounded bizarre.

Piper watched as Prue stepped out of the room, then she acted quickly. Hurrying over to the door, she stared Prue, while murmuring an improvisational spell. "Memories gained unnaturally, let them vanish into air, so that Prue may never know, the truth behind the picture here." Knowing what she was doing was wrong, she crumpled the picture in her hand.

Prue paused in the hallway and rubbed her eyes. What was it she was doing there? She stopped for a moment, trying to figure out why she was in the hallway. Coming up blank, she shrugged and walked back down the stairs. "Hey, Aunt Piper," she said as she passed the other woman in the hall.

Piper smiled and watched as Prue walked down the stairs. Once her niece was out of sight, she turned and walked back into the room. "Leo!"

* * *

"You shouldn't have lost your temper with them," Bianca said, placing a plate of spaghetti on the table in front of Chris. She sat down across from Chris and picked up her fork. Taking a bite of her own dinner, she continued, "They are just concerned about you." 

"Everybody is concerned about me," Chris snapped, stabbing his spaghetti moodily with his fork. "Wyatt shouldn't have treated you like that."

"No…" Bianca agreed. She sighed and shook her head. "Still… yelling at them may not have been the best course of action."

Chris nodded. "No, I don't suppose it was." He took a bite of his spaghetti. "I just got so mad. I mean, this is confusing enough as it is without having to worry about whether or not Wyatt is going to try and vanquish you."

Bianca blinked. She suddenly felt a sharp pain in her stomach as though she had been stabbed in the abdomen. "Huh…"

"Bianca?" Chris asked, looking up at her in concern.

"I just got the strangest sense of déjà vu."

"Déjà vu?" Chris questioned. "What do you mean? What happened?"

"When you said that…about Wyatt vanquishing me…I felt like it had happened before. I got this pain in my stomach and…" She frowned and glanced at Chris. "I sound insane, don't I?"

"Well, you said that you felt like you had met Wyatt before, and you were afraid of him, and now you are imagining him killing you? Yes, you sound insane," Chris answered.

"Yeah…" Bianca rubbed her eyes and sighed. "This is getting out of hand." She stood up and turned to Chris. "There is something else I need to tell you."

"What?"

"After you left yesterday, my mother said something to me. She warned me not to underestimate Wyatt," Bianca said slowly.

"Well, yeah. Lot's of demons do, and they get killed. He may only be one witch, but he is a very powerful one," Chris answered quickly.

"That isn't what she meant," Bianca said softly. She looked over at Chris, meeting the witch-lighter's eyes. "She meant not to assume that he would always be good. Not to assume that he would always do the 'right' thing."

"You think he is evil?" Chris demanded. "Because I assure you he is not! And if you think that…"

Bianca cut him off. "Do you make a habit of jumping down the throats of everyone who cares about you, or is it just Wyatt, Prue, and I?"

"Sorry…" Chris said quietly. He looked down at the table, then back up at Bianca. He narrowed his eyes. "But I do know that Wyatt would never be evil.

"I know. I didn't mean to suggest that," Bianca replied. "I just… I think my mother might know more than she is saying."

"Your mother never keeps secrets from you," Chris argued. "You told me that yourself."

"Maybe I was wrong," Bianca replied glumly. She ran a hand through her hair, then shook her head and said, "And this whole picture thing…I really don't know what to tell you about that."

"Yeah, it couldn't exist. I mean, how could I have been an adult when Wyatt was a kid? And why don't I remember any of it?" Chris asked slowly, shaking his head.

There was a silence for a moment, then Chris stood up and said softly, "I'm going to go for a walk to try and figure this all out. I'll be back in a little bit." He orbed away.

Bianca watched as he disappeared, then stood up and began to clear the table. After a few minutes, however, she stopped and walked over to the sofa. She leaned forward and buried her head in her hands, thinking over the events of the past few days. Everything was spiraling out of control, and she knew she wasn't the only one who felt that way. Chris seemed so lost today. Whatever was going on, it was taking it's toll on him and his relationship with his family. And it killed her to see him so confused.

Maybe it was time to confront her mother.

* * *

"You erased Prue's memory? You _erased_ it?" Leo asked incredulously. "Are you out of your mind?" He shook his head and turned away from his wife, unable to even begin to comprehend what she had been thinking. "You shouldn't have... What were you thinking!" 

"I don't know," Piper wailed. "I panicked, okay? I didn't know what to do, what to think..." She let the sentence drift off, then held out the picture to Leo. "I haven't seen a picture of _him _since..." She closed her eyes for a moment, pushing away the tears that threatened to fall. She knew what she did was wrong, but she couldn't help it. Confronted with a picture she thought had been burned, she had...well, she hadn't been able to think clearly.

Leo frowned slightly and said, "I thought you were the one who keeps saying that the other Chris and our Chris are the same person?" He ran a hand through his hair and took a shaky breath.

"And I thought we agreed to burn all the pictures?" Piper snapped abruptly, opened her eyes and glaring at Leo. "I wouldn't have had to erase Prue's memory if you hadn't held onto a picture that was supposed to be destroyed!" She turned away, fuming. She did claim that the other Chris and their Chris were the same. They had to be the same, because she could not deal with...

"I wanted to keep something to remember that Chris by, okay?" Leo said wearily, breaking into her musings before she had a chance to finish her thought. "I just wanted something to remind me of my other son."

"You're other son is alive, Leo. You don't need something to remember him by, he lives here!" Piper argued, all her old fears and frustrations leaping to the surface. Chris _couldn_'t be gone.

"No, he doesn't. This version of Chris is different. A lot of things are the same, but many things are not, and you know that! That version of Chris is gone. Gideon _killed_ him, and I wanted something to remind me of the son I lost!" Leo snarled.

"Don't say that, don't ever say that," Piper hissed. "Chris is not dead!"

Leo frowned and walked over to the small bedside table. He picked up Piper's day planner and flipped it open to the day's date. "Look at this, Piper," he said quietly, handing her the calender. "Look at the date."

"What about it?" Piper asked, confused and still upset with her husband. "I know what day it is."

"Do you?" Leo asked softly. "Do you really?" He pushed the planner into his wife's hands and said, "Today, twenty-three years ago, Chris Perry was hit by a dark-lighter arrow and lay dying in Gith's cave while you three and Wyatt were trapped in fantasy worlds." His voice suddnely became strangled, choked. "While I tried to arrange a hearing with the Elders..." He paused, then pushed away his guilt and hurried on. "Chris is the same age now that he would have been then."

"So?" Piper asked, still not sure where her husband was going with this. "What does that have to do with the picture?"

Leo ran a hand through his hair and said shakily, "If this Chris was the same as that one, he would _still _be twenty-three years in the past, still trapped in Gith's cave. But he isn't. He is here, and he is safe, and the only way that this is possible is because those two Chris' were different. And one of them _is _dead."

Piper swallowed the lump in her throat and shook her head. "No," she said, still in denial. "No..." She paused, casting her mind about for a different topic. At last, she handed the calender back to Leo and asked, "You remembered the exact date of the day that Gith tried to kill Chris?"

Leo turned haunted eyes to Piper and replied gently, "Didn't you?"

Outside the door to the bedroom, Pen and Mel stood on the stairs, listening to the entire conversation in confusion.

* * *

"Wyatt! Knock!" Prue admonished as her cousin appeared in her room in a sudden flurry of orbs. She looked around frantically for something to throw on as she was only wearing her bra and underwear. 

Wyatt laughed and turned away from her, staring at the wall as she pulled on a shirt and a pair of jeans. "Sorry, Prue. Didn't realize you were changing."

Prue glared at her cousin and grabbed a brush from her dresser. "I just got out of the shower, Wy. So please, in the future, knock. That is why we have doors, you know," she snapped back. She ran the brush through her wet hair.

"Sorry," Wyatt said again. He turned around and walked over to her bed. "So, should we talk to Chris again? He was really upset."

"Yeah, well, if you hadn't gone off at him about Bianca," Prue accused. She too walked over to her bed and sat down on it. "I don't know, though, Wy. I think he was overreacting. It didn't seem like that big a deal."

"True," Wyatt agreed. "Although he appears to be very infatuated by this Bianca. Do you think he is under some sort of spell?" Wyatt thought about this for a moment, then said, "Hey, maybe Bianca knows something about the picture."

"What picture?" Prue asked carelessly, running her hairbrush through her hair one last time then setting it down on the bed.

Wyatt looked at her in confusion and replied, "The one you found in my parents' closet." When this statement was greeted with a blank stare from Prue, he elaborated, "You know, with baby me and adult Chris?"

"What are you talking about?" Prue asked, completely bewildered. "How could there be a picture of you as a baby and Chris as an adult?"

"Prue, focus! The picture you found earlier? We were talking about it before Chris went all psycho on us and orbed away," Wyatt replied, concerned.

Prue shook her head wordlessly, her eyes wide with uncertainty. The two sat in silence for a moment, then Wyatt stood up and began pacing.

"Maybe a demon erased your memory? Maybe Bianca erased your memory? Maybe…"

"Maybe you are imagining things," Prue cut in. She stood up and walked over to the door. "Look, I've got to go because we are having family time or something like that soon. I think my mom is trying to salvage her marriage before its too late. Why don't we talk to Chris tomorrow?"

Wyatt hurried over to her and grabbed her arms. "Prue, don't you remember the…" he began, but the minute he touched her, they were both thrown into a premonition.

"_I would like to get to the bottom of this, so can you bring the Book of Shadows down here?" Piper said, holding the picture in one hand and looking very seriously at Prue._

_Prue nodded and stood up. She walked from the room, and a minute later, Piper followed. Piper stood in the hallway, watching Prue walked up the stairs, then she muttered a quick spell under her breath. "Memories gained unnaturally, let them vanish into air, so that Prue may never know, the truth behind the picture here." Piper crumpled the picture in her hand._

Wyatt and Prue stared at each other in complete shock.

* * *

Just to answer the comments I am sure some people have: Piper erasing Prue's memory was a little bit out of character. It was necessary for the plot, however, so I had to include it. I tried to show that she wasn't thinking clearly and had just panicked. Because, seriously, haven't we all done stupid things that we later regret when we are worried or backed into a corner? And then, of course, when someone tries to point out that we shouldn't have done what we did, we get defensive, even if we know they are right? 

Next Chapter: Painful Truths

Due: Sunday 11/13

* * *


	6. Painful Truths

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: Pen and Mel finally show up in this chapter. They are thriteen-year-old twins, and the daughters of Paige and Kyle. I don't know what their powers are yet, except that they have the ability to orb.

Re: Calen: Actually, when I was first writing this, Bianca was supposed to be a tiny side character. She somehow became more prominent, and I really wasn't planning on that happening. But for the story to work, she is going to have to leave for a while. The story is supposed to be mostly focused on the Halliwells. As for when the demons are going to mess with what happened to the other Chris, don't worry. It will be soon. :)

Re: Martina G: Yes, Phoebe should have listened to Jason. But she didn't. I've actually always thought that Phoebe was never really cut out for the relationship thing. Did you ever notice how, once she breaks up with someone, she doesn't seem that upset? The only time she actually cried over a ruined relationship was with Cole (who still is my favorite, but they've brought him back from the dead one too many times). Even with Jason, she breaks up with him, then sees that premonition of her being pregnant, and goes on a dating spree. She doesn't really stop to say, 'hey, I just got out of a year long relationship. Maybe I should be sad about that.'

Re: Nikki14u: Thanks for the review, I'm glad you like it so far. A few other things have to happen first before Chris and Piper face off over the lying issue. But it will come soon. Although, I always wondered, in the stories where the new Chris knows the truth, how his parents told him. I mean, did they sit him down and say, "Well, peanut, the reason we are so overprotective of you is because your big brother was the Source of All Evil, I died when you were fourteen, your Dad was never a factor in your life, and you were killed by an Elder." It just seems like there really isn't a good way to tell someone all that.

Re: Just Y: Thank you. I wanted Bianca to have some magical tie to the other timeline, but I didn't want her to actually remember the other timeline. She has to be her own person in this story, and not just a repeat of the person on the show. But I also didn't want to give the Phoenixes more powers than they originally had (I'm trying to stay close to the show), so deja vu seemed the best way to go.

Re: Allen Pitt: That's a good idea, but I actually already have an idea for how Piper is going to find out about Bianca. It won't be pretty, but I don't want Chris to think that she is vanquished, because she has a pretty important role to play later on. And he still needs someone to talk to when he feels he can't talk to anyone else...

Re: Sparkling Cherries: Thanks for the review. I'm updating as quickly as possible without failing out of all my classes at the same time. I'm trying to get a lot of chapters in now because, as we approach finals, my updating will (unfortunately) slow down.

Re: teal-lover: I'm glad you thought that Piper was in character. I am trying to stay close to the show, but I was unable to watch anything after season six, so I actually didn't know how Piper reacted to Chris' death. Or if she even knew about it since she was in the hospital at the time...

Re: Beleninwe: When I first watched the season six finale, I thought that maybe it was supposed to be symbolic that Chris died on the same day he was born. And then Paige's comment about 'Maybe we didn't lose him after all' made me think that the writiers for the show were trying to say that big Chris was reincarnated into little Chris. But the more I thought about it, the less sense that made to me, so I decided to stick with my two different Chris' idea. :)

Re: bunn2007: Thanks for the review. No, Chris and Bianca are not going to break up. This will remain a Chris/Bianca story all the way through. She's going to leave because of something else. It is mostly just a plot devise to get her out of the story so I can focus on the Halliwells. She'll be back, and still dating Chris, near the end.

Re: Karone Evertree: Always happy to try and explain my story and the characters. I'm glad you thought Piper's reaction was understandable, I was a little worried about that. It was necessary to have her erase Prue's memory, but I didn't want to stray too far from the show.

Re: crazyDFFgang: Thanks for the review, I'm glad you like it so far. As I was writing this, I did suddenly remember that Paige and Phoebe should have kids also, since Chris is already twenty-three. So that is why all of the family members are suddenly making an appearance.

Re: P: Thanks for the review. Okay, so my French is basically nonexistant, but I tried my best to pick up a few words of your review, and I hope this answers what I think you might have written. Chris will find out about his past self soon, and there will be a big confrontation with that.

As always, read and review.

* * *

Chapter Five: Painful Truths 

Pen and Mel appeared in Prue's room, each literally shaking with excitement. "Guess what we heard?" Mel cried the minute the two appeared. She was never good at staying silent.

Wyatt and Prue both turned to face their thirteen-year-old twin cousins. Prue was completely white, her eyes wide with shock. Wyatt was also pale, but his expression was one of confusion, not surprise.

"Guys?" Pen asked, glancing back and forth between the two. "What happened?"

"Nothing," Wyatt replied after a moment's hesitation. "What are you two doing here?"

Pen raised and eyebrow. Mel opened her mouth to answer Wyatt's question, but Pen nudged her in the ribs and shook her head. "Nuh uh, Wy. Something's up. Tell us what it is, then we'll tell you what we overheard."

"It's nothing," Prue said softly, walking back over to her bed. She sunk down into and ran a hand through her hair, trying to comprehend what she had just discovered. Her Aunt Piper had cast a spell on her to make her forget the picture. A _spell_…

"But I want to tell them," Mel complained to Pen in annoyance. "And Wy will want to know about Chris."

"What about Chris?" Wyatt asked, instantly perking up. "You found out something about Chris?" He looked in between the twins. "What is it?"

"Tell us what happened first, and then we will tell you about the other Chris," Pen replied smugly, knowing her information had valuable bargaining power.

"What do you mean, the other Chris?" Prue asked, now intrigued despite herself.

Mel opened her mouth to answer, but fell silent when Pen shot her a glare. She crossed her arms angrily and stalked over to corner of the room and sat down.

"Penelope Patricia Halliwell, what do you know about my brother?" Wyatt demanded, standing up and trying to appear authoritative.

Pen grinned back at him and said nothing. There was a silence, the Prue spoke up.

"We should tell them, Wy. They deserve to know. Then maybe they can help us figure out why Chris went so psycho on you before."

Wyatt sighed then nodded. "Fine. You tell us what you know, and we will tell you what has been going on the past couple days."

"No," Pen shot back. "You tell us first." Wyatt glared at her, but she merely stuck out her tongue and remained silent.

Realizing defeat, Wyatt began to narrate what the events of the past couple days, starting with Chris' sort-of premonition.

* * *

"Mom?" Bianca asked, knocking on the door of the study. "Am I interrupting?" 

Lynn looked up in surprise and smiled at her daughter. "Of course not. Come on in." She gestured for Bianca to take a seat. Once her daughter was seated, she continued, "I didn't realize you were coming over today. Did I forget plans that we had?"

"No," Bianca said. "It isn't anything like that. I just need to talk to you about something."

"What? Is something wrong?" Lynn asked, worried. She was almost positive what this conversation would be about, and she wanted desperately to stop it.

"It's about Chris and this premonition…or memory…that he had earlier this week," Bianca explained. "You see, he was at the arboretum, and he had this vision of…"

"Of him proposing to you?" Lynn said softly. She looked down at the papers on her desk, then back up at her daughter's surprised face. "I overheard your conversation with Chris."

"You were eavesdropping?" Bianca demanded, annoyed.

"Yes," Lynn replied honestly. She hesitated, then shook her head and said, "When he showed up, he seemed so worried. I wanted to know what it was about in case it put you in any danger. Can you blame me for wanting to keep my daughter safe?"

"You should have just asked me what it was about," Bianca replied, unwilling to let go of her anger. "I wouldn't have lied to you."

"I didn't think you would," Lynn said quickly. "I was just worried." There was an uncomfortable silence, then Lynn said, "So…what do you think of the premonition?"

"I don't know," Bianca admitted reluctantly. "I mean, it could just be a premonition, but Chris said it felt more like a memory to him. And he also doesn't have the power of premonition, which makes it less likely to be that," she added as an afterthought.

"Perhaps he is coming into that power," Lynn replied thoughtfully.

"I suppose that is possible," Bianca agreed. She hesitated, then said, "Mom, I need to ask you something, and please don't take this the wrong way."

"What?" Lynn asked in growing trepidation.

"You told me who Chris was the first day I met him. You didn't seem surprised when I started dating him. And now this thing with the vision Chris had, it is almost as though you were expecting it. And then what you said about Wyatt…" She paused and looked up at her mother, meeting her eyes. "Do you know something that I don't?"

"I know a lot of things you don't," Lynn replied, grinning. "I'm your mother."

"You know what I mean," Bianca replied, refusing to back down from the question.

Lynn shook her head and said, "No, Bianca, I don't." She held her daughter's gaze for what seemed like eternity, then continued, "What could I know that you don't? He is your boyfriend, not mine."

Bianca nodded and stood up. "Okay." She walked over to the door, lost in thought. She knew her mother was lying, but she didn't know about what. And her mother had never lied to her about anything important before, so maybe this was also nothing. Maybe she was just being paranoid.

Lynn watched her daughter cross the floor to the door. She watched as Bianca pulled the door of the study open, and stepped into the hallway. She watched as her daughter began to walk away.

_You want to help me? Some day in the future when I ask you what it feels like to kill, don't lie to me. Don't tell me you don't feel a thing._

_Don't lie to me._

Lynn took a shaky breath and knew suddenly that if she let Bianca walk out of the room without telling her the truth, she would regret the decision for the rest of her life. She stood up quickly and ordered, "Stop."

Bianca stopped and turned to face her mother. She could see the apprehension on her mother's face, and it unnerved her. What secret could her mother be keeping that would cause her this much worry? "Yes?" she asked hesitantly, suddenly wondering if she actually wanted to know the answers to her questions.

"Sit down," Lynn said slowly. Bianca obeyed the request and reseated herself. Her mother paused for a moment, then sat down as well. There was a minute of complete silence, then Lynn continued, "I need to tell you something that I should have told you a long time ago. It's about you…and Christopher Halliwell."

Bianca swallowed and met her mother's unwavering gaze. "I'm listening."

* * *

"So… let me get this straight. Chris is feeling left out of the magic part of this family, so he starts a secret relationship with an assassin witch, who may or may not be evil. He then gets a vision of sorts where he is proposing to this witch. Prue finds a photo of baby Wyatt and adult Chris in Aunt Piper's closet. She shows it to Chris, who blows up at Wyatt for accusing his girlfriend of being evil, and then orbs away. Prue then shows the picture to Aunt Piper, who erases Prue's memory with a spell. Then Uncle Leo blows up at Piper for erasing Prue's memory and says that he has a right to keep a memento of the other version of Chris, who apparently died because someone named Gideon killed him. Is that correct?" Pen summed up the entire conversation. 

"Yeah…" Wyatt admitted. "That was a pretty good summary of it all."

"Why would Chris blow up at you like that?" Pen asked. "That doesn't seem like Chris. I mean, he blows up at the adults, but never you."

"I don't know," Wyatt answered. "Nobody has really been acting like they normally do lately. I mean, Mom casting a spell on Prue to erase her memory?"

Prue frowned and shook her head. "Well, to all of that, you could add my parents' marriage falling apart." She stood up and began to pace. "Everything is just so weird right now."

"Tell me about it," Wyatt agreed. "I still can't get over Chris going all crazy on me like that."

"You are so thick, Wy," Mel snapped, speaking up for the first time since the start of the conversation. Three sets of eyes turned towards her, each surprised at her comment.

"I beg your pardon?" Wyatt said. "What do you mean?"

"You totally don't get it."

"Get what?" Prue asked.

"Chris!"

"You want to be a little more specific, Mel?" Pen said. "We have no idea what you are talking about."

"You have no idea what you are talking about either," Mel shot back. She stood up and walked over to Wyatt. "Chris went psycho on you because you kept going on about Bianca being evil."

"I know that," Wyatt replied, annoyed. "But it doesn't make any sense. I'm his brother, and this is just some girl he is dating. Besides, I've made fun of his friends before, not to mention _him_. What's the big deal?"

"I'm with Wy on this one," Prue added.

"Yeah, it doesn't sound like Chris," Pen agreed."

"I still think he is under a spell," Wyatt mumbled under his breath.

"Oh my God, you guys are dense," Mel cried.

"You want to tell us why we are dense, or just continue to insult us?" Prue snapped, annoyed with the somewhat mysterious behavior of her younger cousin. "And hurry up with it, will you? I am supposed to be having family time right now, so this whole powwow has to end soon. Okay?"

"He's in love!"

"What?" All three turned to Mel, surprised and shocked by her announcement.

"He's in love with her, Wy," Mel explained patiently, adopting the voice of a kindergarten teacher. "And he is probably kind of scared, because he's never been in love before, and he doesn't know how to handle it. On top of all of that, is this weird vision stuff that has been happening, plus his fears about being kept out of magic for the rest of his life, and he is really confused and lost. Not to mention, that if he is secretly dating her, he is clearly worried about his family's reactions to the woman he is in love with. And you just made all of those fears seem really well founded when you went off on the whole Bianca is evil thing. You are his older brother, he always turns to you for help, and now that you have so completely failed to make him feel less confused about his situation, he is upset and angry at you. And he is probably regretting ever telling you about Bianca in the first place, and he is feeling incredibly scared because he doesn't know what to do next."

Mel then shook her head in exasperation and orbed away, leaving three very shell-shocked witches behind.

* * *

Chris orbed into Bianca's apartment and looked around. He closed his eyes and sensed for her, and found that she was at her mother's. He paused for a moment, debating orbing back home and talking to Bianca later, but he decided against it. He really needed someone to talk to right now, and he still felt a little too guilty about blowing up at Wyatt and Prue to go back and face them. He knew that Wyatt had only been concerned for him, but still... His brother's words had only served to intensify his own fears. 

What if his family rejected Bianca?

He walked over to a side table by the sofa and stared at the pictures on it. One of the pictures showed Lynn and Bianca, taken when Bianca was a little girl. She was clutching two small bottles that Chris instantly recognized as potion's bottles, and staring up at her mother with an intensity somewhat out of place on the face of a five-year-old. Lynn was pointing to something just out of the camera's range.

Chris smiled inwardly, realizing how bizarre of a picture it was. Most family's had pictures of their children playing with blocks or stuffed animals. Who but a Phoenix would have a picture of themselves as a little child learning how to throw potions?

The next picture was one of Bianca and a tall man with thick dark hair and black eyes. Bianca was laughing at something the other man was saying, her face lit up with happiness. Chris ran a hand over her face, thinking that she looked beautiful. He wished it was him in the picture, telling the joke. Not Matt.

Matt. Probably the biggest obstacle he had had to overcome when he first started dating Bianca. Well, biggest after Lynn. Matt was Bianca's second cousin once removed…or something like that. He was the closest thing to a brother Bianca had, and he could be even more protective than Wyatt. He was a Phoenix, and as such, he had invested a lot of interest in the wellbeing of his clan, and his cousin. He had not been exactly thrilled when he found out that Bianca was dating the son of a Charmed One.

Chris sighed and closed his eyes, remembering his first run in with Matt. He supposed that all the Phoenixes would react the same way that Matt did when they found out about his relationship with Bianca, but so far, Matt was the only one outside of Lynn and Bianca herself who knew. Bianca had decided that, if Chris was not going to tell his family, she would not tell hers. It only seemed fair to keep it a secret from as many witches as possible. Even Matt didn't know the full extent of their relationship.

Chris had always wondered how hard it was for Bianca to keep it all a secret. He knew very little of the Phoenix clan, but he did know that they were, above all else, frighteningly loyal to each oher. And he knew that Bianca was probably dying to tell her family about the two-year relationship she was in.

But what if her family rejected him?

At that moment, Bianca shimmered back to her apartment, jolting Chris from his thoughts. He put the picture of her and Matt down and looked at her for a moment. Then he said the first thing that came to mind. "You don't have any pictures of me here."

Bianca frowned and nodded. "And you don't have any of me, Chris. We agreed on this a while ago. You know it would be impossible to explain to our respective families why we have the pictures without telling them that we are dating." One more sacrifice to be made in the name of keeping secrets. Bianca felt a sudden irrational swell of anger at the world. She _wanted _a picture of Chris in her living room. After a moment of silence, she continued, "I thought you were going out for a walk?"

"Yeah, well, I'm back now. What where you doing at your mother's? Did she tell you anything about what's been going on lately?" Chris replied, walking over to the sofa and dropping into it.

Bianca closed her eyes for a moment, then said gravely, "Yes, she did, Chris, and we need to talk."

* * *

Prue opened the door to the living room and walked in, lost in her thoughts. Wyatt and Pen had orbed away a few moments earlier. Prue was now thinking over the many revelations of the day. Her Aunt had erased her memory, another version of Chris had been killed, and her cousin was in love. It was giving her a headache. 

"That isn't the point, Phoebe," Jason snapped angrily. He was standing by the window, his back to the room, glaring out at the evening sky. Phoebe was sitting on the sofa, looking up at him with concerned and frustrated eyes. "You don't get it."

"I do, Jason. You want to be part of magic. But why can't you see that I am just trying to protect you?" Phoebe argued back.

Prue stood by the door, unnoticed by the arguing adults. She held her breath, watching as her parents' marriage seemed to break down in front of her.

"I am not your responsibility to protect," Jason replied. "And you have to respect that, as an adult, I am capable of making my own decisions. He turned away from the window, and frowned, seeing Prue there. "Prue? When did you appear?"

"Just a moment ago, Dad," Prue replied quietly. "Are we having family time tonight? Mom said that we were."

"Yes," Phoebe replied. "Come sit down, sweetheart. We are going to have dinner in a few minutes, but why don't you tell us about your day first?"

Prue walked over to the sofa and sat down next to her mother. She frowned, wondering briefly what to say. First she had found a picture that couldn't possibly exist, then she had shown it to her cousin, who had gone and blown up at Wyatt and her, then Piper had erased her memory, and now her youngest cousin gave her a lecture on Chris being in love.

"It was uneventful," she lied, forcing a smile. "What about your day?"

* * *

Paige placed a few plates on the table and waited for her two daughters to come sit down. She watched as Kyle stood, his eyes closed, communicating with the Elders. She shook her head for a moment, slightly annoyed that the Elders could find Kyle wherever he was. Did he never get a break? It was like he was a doctor on constant call. 

Mel and Pen entered the kitchen and came over to the table for dinner. They took their seats and watched as their father finished his telepathic conversation and sat down.

"Sorry about that," Kyle apologized to Paige. "The Elders want to...give me a new charge, and I had to work out some of the finer details." Paige frowned at him, noting the slight hesitation in his voice. He shrugged apologetically and continued, "I'll tell you about it later."

"Okay, but couldn't they pick a time that isn't during dinner? They're worse than solicitors," Paige argued. She handed the salad to Kyle while she dished out lasagna for her daughters.

"I'll mention it to them," Kyle replied dryly. He forked some salad onto his plate and handed the bowl to Mel. She girl was sitting, staring off into space, her expression unusually grave. "You alright, Mel?"

"Yeah," Mel said quickly, picking at the lasagna on her plate. "I'm fine, Dad." She and Pen exchanged a brief glance, then began to eat in silence.

Paige looked over at Kyle and shrugged. She turned to her meal and lifted a bite of lasagna to her mouth. Her family was unusually quiet, and it was suddenly bothering her. Mel and Pen were worried about something, she could tell that much, but she wasn't sure what it was, and, Mel at least, did not seem to want to tell anyone.

They were keeping secrets. Everyone was keeping secrets: Leo, Piper, Wyatt, Chris, Phoebe, Jason, Prue. And now her girls. It seemed like the only person who wasn't secretive was Kyle, and that was probably because he was never home. Always busy with one of his charges.

What was happening to this family?

* * *

Chris lay in his bed, staring up at the ceiling. It was the middle of the night. He had orbed home for dinner, which was a very quick and awkwardly silent affair, then headed straight up to his room to be alone. All through dinner, his parents had been glaring at each other, to angry with one another to notice the confused looks Wyatt was giving Chris. Chris had ignored his brother's looks, however, still too frustrated with him to want to explain why he had reacted so strongly. 

What if the entire family rejected Bianca? What if they tried to vanquish her? The thought scared him, terrified him.

And then there was the other issue on his mind, the revelation that Bianca had made today. He had lived in a different timeline. He had traveled to the past to keep Wyatt from turning evil. He had succeeded, but apparently been killed in the process. It was almost to whimsical to believe.

Almost.

It matched with the feeling of déjà vu Bianca had had earlier in the day when he had mentioned Wyatt killing her. It explained the picture, and why his parents had been so overprotective of him. It clarified the vision he had of himself proposing to Bianca.

No, as much as he wanted to say it was crazy, he couldn't. He didn't know if he believed Lynn, but he wasn't going to write the whole story off, not yet.

If only he had a way of figuring out whether or not it was true…

_A memory restoration potion. The Book of Shadows will have a recipe._

The idea popped into his head, and suddenly Chris was wide awake. A potion? It was probably dangerous, and it might have nasty side effects. But it would work, wouldn't it?

He put his feet on the floor and stood up, throwing the covers off of him. His parents and Wyatt were asleep now, so it would be the perfect chance. He made his way silently out of his bedroom, and up the stairs to the attic.

* * *

Next Chapter: Memories 

Next Chapter after that: Fragments and Remnants

Due Date (for both): Friday 11/18

I was originally going to try and post the next chapter earlier in the week, but then this upcoming week turned into the week from hell for me (seriously, did they have to give us four midterms all in the same week?), so I have to postpone my posting until Friday. Because of that, I am posting two chapters at once. And the chapters do sort of go hand in hand.


	7. Memories

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: Anything in italics (which is basically the whole chapter) is a memory.

Re: RHIA: Thanks for the review, glad you like the story so far. Keep reading (and reviewing) and I hope the story continues to hold your attention.

Re: drew fuller is the best: Drew Fuller really is the best, isn't he? As for Prue having a boyfriend, yes, she does, but he won't show up much, maybe just once or twice. The same goes for Wyatt's girfriend (Courtney-she was mentioned mostly just in passing in an earlier chapter). Thanks for the review, here's your update.

Re: Martina G: I know it is hard to read, it is even harder to write it. Yes, all of their strength comes from family unity, but at the same time, it is probably also their greatest weakness. Because of their need for family unity, they are forced to live in incredibly close proximity to each other, never getting a break from the others, always having every aspect of their life known by everyone else. They combat that by keeping secrets, which then forces the family apart; and then they realize what they are doing and they try to find that unity again, but in doing so they lose the autonomy that they had and are upset by that, fight against it, and only end up with more secrets. It is a never-ending cycle. It will get better for them, but it is going to get worse first.

Re: Karone Evertree: No, Chris should not have heard about what happened from Bianca, but since his family wasn't telling him anything, she did. No, nothing good is happening for the family, and that will blow up in their faces, but perhaps they will learn from it and become stronger. Or not. I haven't really figured that out yet. There will be some Bianca in this chapter, and a lot of her in the next, but then she starts to fade out of the story. Thanks for sticking with it despite your dislike of her.

Re: Sparkling Cherries: Thanks for the review, I am so glad you like the story. The potion will definitely cause some problems with Chris and his family, and it will bring everything to head. After that big confrontation, however, I do intend to bring in the rest of the family more, such as Phoebe and Jason's failing marriage and the relationship between the sisters. Also, don't worry, you can end your reviews with update now, I don't mind. And I am trying to update as much as possible.

Re: Anna: The first of the many confrontations will come in the chapter after this one, and I am adding both chapters now, so you can read all about Chris and his reaction to finding out the truth. :) Keep reading and there will be many more issues that the Halliwell's are going to have to resolve in later chapters.

Re: RushmoreDoll: Thanks for the review, I am glad that you find the story intersting. Keep reading-and please keep reviewing :) - and I'll try to 'keep it up.'

Re: Mellaithwen: Thanks. I'm glad you still like the story. I hope you find the next two chapters equally as good.

Re: Nikki14u: Glad you like it so far. Here are the next two chapters so you don't have to wait anymore for an update. :) I just read Living in the Shadows, and you have to update it soon! It is so sad and heartbreaking, and I am dying to find out what happens.

Re: teal-lover: Thanks for the review. These two chapters should (hopefully) give you an insight insight into Chris' initial reaction to the truth about his other self. Keep reading and (as always) reviewing.

Re: Beleninwe: Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter. And I am glad someone agrees with me on the whole two-Chris thing. I've read a lot of really good fanfiction where the old Chris ends up in the new Chris' body in the future, but since I believe the two Chris thing, I wanted to have this story reflect that. Also, the plot wouldn't really work as well if Chris already knew about his other self.

Re: CharmedOne24: Well, you won't have to wait anymore because the Piper-Chris showdown (or at least, the initial one) is here:) Well, actually it is in the next chapter (Fragments and Remnants), but since I am adding them both at the same time, for all intents and purposes, it is here. I hope you like it.

Re: akemi: Better late than never, right:) I'm so glad that you like it so far, I am trying to keep it interesting and unique. Oddly enough, the secrets are not actually the main focus of this story, (although the reprecussions of them will be felt all the way through until the end), but the central conflict won't appear for another several chapters. The secrets are mostly a way of getting to where I needed to go in the story.

* * *

Chapter Six: Memories

It had taken the better part of an hour to find the right potion, and then he had had to raid his mother's stock of potion's ingredients in the kitchen to find all the ingredients. Fortunately, everything he needed had been there, so he had been able to make the potion. It was a complicated potion and took two hours to make. It was now three in the morning, but he had finally finished.

A glass of blue potion sat on the counter in front of him, waiting for him to drink it.

Chris lifted the blue potion to his lips, and drank. For a moment, nothing happened, then the world began to spin around him, and he suddenly collapsed to the floor. Blinding pain pulsed through his forehead, his body began to shake uncontrollably, and darkness settled over him.

Then the memories came.

"_Wy?" nine-year-old Chris asked. _

"_Yeah?" Wyatt replied, glancing up from the book he was reading to look at his little brother. "What do you want?"_

"_Mom and the Aunts went out on another demon hunt again."_

"_I know," Wyatt replied shrugging. "They do it a lot. What's the problem?"_

"_What if they don't come back?" Chris asked, scared. "It's dangerous. Mom says so, she says that is why she won't take us. What if something happens to here when they are gone? Who will take care of us?"_

_Wyatt shrugged again and said, "Someone else will. Grandpa. Uncle Daryl and Aunt Sheila. Uncle Richard, Uncle Jason. There are lots of people in the family."_

"_What if something happens to them?"_

_Wyatt thought about that for a moment, then said, "Then I will take care of us."_

_Chris looked up at Wyatt, hope shinning in his eyes. "Really, Wy? You'll take care of us?"_

_Wyatt nodded confidently. "Of course. We're brothers. That's what brothers do, they take care of each other. And I am older, so I will look after you." He reached out and punched Chris lightly in the arm. "I'll always look after you."

* * *

_

"_Mom? I'm home," fourteen-year-old Chris called, pushing the door to the kitchen open and dropping his backpack on the floor. He stopped, shocked by the sight that met his eyes._

_His mother was lying in a pool of her own blood. Her eyes were glazed over with pain, her breathing erratic. Her head turned to the side slightly and she looked up at him. "Love you…" she whispered, managing to force out the words before her eyelids fell shut._

_Chris ran to her side, kneeling down next to her. "Mom! Mom! Please, don't…just hold on."_

_He jumped to his feet. "Wyatt! Dad! Aunt Paige! Someone, anyone! Please!"_

_There was a flurry of lights and Wyatt appeared. He was always the first to appear when his brother called for help. He took one look at the situation and dropped to his knees next to his mother. He extended his hands over his mother's stomach, but no glowing light appeared._

_Paige appeared a moment later. She stared at Piper in shock, knowing instinctively what it meant that Wyatt could not heal her. She bent down next to her sister, the tears sliding down her cheeks. "No…" she whispered, unable to accept what she saw. "Piper…"_

"_Heal her!" Chris screamed. "Come on, heal her!"_

"_I can't…" Wyatt whispered, looking away. The tears fell down his cheeks._

"_NO!" Chris cried in frustration. "Try again!"_

_Paige stood up and pulled Chris into a hug. He fought against her, trying to pull out of the embrace, but finally gave up. He collapsed, sobbing, into his aunt's arms. Wyatt stood next to them, his blue eyes dull and lifeless as he stared off into space.

* * *

_

_Chris hung back in the shadows, watching as a teenage Wyatt swung Excalibur, watching as the beautiful and powerful sword cut circles in the air. He watched as the blonde man spun to face his enemy, watched the demon turn to ash as the sword sliced through him. He watched Wyatt straighten and waved his hand, causing the sword to disappear._

"_Lurking in the shadows? Why, someone would almost think you were a demon."_

_Chris stepped out and stared at Wyatt. "Do you always hunt demons?"_

"_Every night," Wyatt replied evenly. He glared at Chris. "Are you here to tell me that it is a bad idea?"_

"_Too much power and too much rage…that is a dangerous combination," Chris replied._

"_I will find the demon that murdered her, and I will destroy it!" Wyatt snarled, then orbed away in a flurry of white lights._

_Chris stared at the spot the blonde teen had stood and said softly, "And if you destroy yourself in the process…? Be careful, lest you become the thing you hate."

* * *

_

"_I can't believe Prue would do that!" Chris hissed. "She sold me out to Wyatt to save her own skin. I mean, she is supposed to be my cousin. We're family…"_

"_Yeah, well, life has a funny away of screwing everything up, doesn't it?" Bianca said as she sat on the floor of the empty warehouse. She watched as Chris paced the hard stone floor in silence. "I mean, look at us. Who would have thought this is where we would end up?"_

_Chris stopped and glanced over at her. "I suppose," he admitted. "I met my most trusted ally because she wanted to kill me."_

_Bianca grinned and said, "Oh, so I am the most trusted ally now?" She stood up and walked over to Chris. She sighed, and her smile faltered for a moment. "I'm not saying you should assume every person you work with is out to get you, but you have to be careful. Life has a funny way of sending you friends who look like enemies and enemies who look like friends."_

"_How do you tell the difference?"_

_Bianca turned her head to the side and stared at Chris seriously. After a moment, she allowed a small, bittersweet smile to play across her features. "You don't. That's what makes life so much _fun_."

* * *

_

"_What's wrong, Ria?" Chris asked. "You've been silent since the attack."_

_Patricia Matthews-Montana turned away and stared off into the sunset. She absently tucked a stand of dark brown hair behind one ear. They were sitting on one of the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was dangerous to be out in the open, which they both knew quite well, but they were there anyway._

"_Ria?" Chris pressed._

_Ria turned and looked at him. "Mathew Carlson."_

"_Who?" Chris asked, confused._

"_He was the general leading all of the people we were fighting in that attack. I killed him," Ria said. She looked back out over the city. "And I know you what you are going to say. He was evil. He would have killed us. He has killed many of our allies. But…"_

"_But what?"_

_Ria sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "But he was human. Did you know he had a daughter? Her name is Anna. She's three. And I killed her father. Her _human_ father." _

_Chris leaned forward and placed a hand on Mel's shoulder. "He was evil."_

"_I _know_ he was evil," Ria replied, shrugging off Chris' hand and moving away from him. She looked out over the city, her eyes filled with pain and confusion. "I know that he has killed countless numbers of our allies. I know that if I hadn't stopped him then, he would kill others. But…I killed him. I watched the blood, his blood, spill onto my hands. I just…I just wish I didn't know his daughter's name was Anna."

* * *

_

"_You don't think it is possible to save him?" Chris asked, pacing the room in agitation. "That this is just Wyatt's destiny? To be evil?"_

_Daryl sighed and shook his head. "I don't know what I think anymore, Chris." He stood up and walked over to the younger man. Placing both hands on Chris' shoulder, he said softly, "But I understand why you have to do this."_

"_Thanks," Chris whispered, smiling. "I will fix this. I promise you, one way or another, I will fix this future."

* * *

_

"_Will you marry me?"_

_Bianca stared at him in surprise, tears streaming down her cheeks as he slid the silver engagement ring onto her finger. "You're asking me now? Here?"_

"_This is still our spot, Bianca, no matter what he's done to it. Marry me," Chris repeated._

_Bianca looked around the arboretum. It was destroyed now. The once green grass was brown and dry, the angel statue cracked. Even the bench they were sitting on had not escaped unscathed. It was chipped at the corners, and long hairline fractures crisscrossed across the marble. _

_But it was still their spot._

"_On one condition. That you come back to me. Safely."

* * *

_

"_There is no bigger picture than my family," Piper informed the future white-lighter who she still did not trust. She turned and glanced back at Wyatt, smiling at him._

_Chris tensed in anger. There is a bigger picture, a much bigger picture, if only she could see it. If only she knew what he had been through because of her precious firstborn… "Well, then pay attention, because in my world, families didn't exist. I never got a chance to know mine." That was partially true. He had lost his mother when he was fourteen, lost his brother to evil a few months later, lost his aunts to demons just a few months after that, lost his grandfather to lung cancer just a few years after that, and his father…Well, his father had never been there for him. _

_Ever._

"_Not my fault," Piper replied, her voice full of disinterest. _

_Chris forced his anger to remain carefully behind his neutral expression. Of course it was her fault! She had left them, left him, to a world of darkness. She had failed to protect Wyatt, had failed to notice the warning signs, had failed to…_

"_Not yet," Chris answered coldly._

"_Is that what this is about? You blame us for what happened to you?" Piper demanded, glaring at the white-lighter in front of her._

_Chris swallowed and shook his head, replying in a voice of forced calm, "I just want you to get it right this time."

* * *

_

"_Seriously Chris, you need to relax," Piper admonished the overly ambitious white-lighter. She rested her arm on his shoulder, careful not to let the burn on her hand bump against him. She stared around the room that had, moments before, been destroyed because of the demon Gith. It looked good now, Paige's spell had worked well._

"_No, you need to stop putting your social lives before your wiccan duties, or you are going to pay for it," Chris retorted._

"_Maybe, but not today," Piper replied, waving away Chris' warning. That was all she ever did, ignore the imminent threat of whatever evil was after Wyatt. Why couldn't they see how important this was? Why couldn't they understand?_

_

* * *

_

"_How are you going to take me back anyway? That spells a one way door, it only goes backward in time," Chris asked, looking up from his spot on the sofa in Lynn's apartment. He watched his fiancée as she carefully drew the triqueta on the wall._

"_He wrote a new spell because of you. One that works both ways."_

"_I'm touched," Chris said, sarcasm dripping from his words._

"_You should be." Bianca's answer was quick and unemotional. "He's gone to a lot of trouble to get you back."_

_Chris swallowed his anger and nodded. "Yeah…I see that," he replied bitterly._

_At this, Bianca finally turned and faced him. Her expression was cold when she replied, "You know, you don't have to believe me, Chris, but this really is for the best."_

"_Oh really? And how's that?" Chris retorted skeptically._

"_Because this is your only chance to live. If I fail, he will just start sending assassins after you, and all they will have to bring home is a body," Bianca replied. Behind her cold demeanor, Chris could sense real fear._

"_It doesn't matter. There's nothing left for me in the future anymore, anyway." Chris tossed the engagement ring on to the coffee table between the two and stared up at Bianca defiantly._

_The Phoenix stared down at the ring, hurt and sorrow appearing briefly on her face. But when she lifted her eyes and looked up at Chris again, her expression was full of steely determination. She turned and walked back over to the wall, and continued to draw the triqueta.

* * *

_

"_I don't need you," Wyatt hissed as he lifted his little brother in the air. One hand conjured an energy ball, the other telekinetically choked Chris._

_Bianca, tears in her eyes, ran from her place on the floor until she was standing behind Wyatt, and plunged her arm into his back. Chris fell to the floor with a crash, and Bianca gasped out, "Whatever you are going to do…do it…fast! I can't…hold him for…long." The strain of keeping Wyatt immobile showed on her face._

_Chris ran to the loose floorboard and pulled it up, praying that his family had come through for him. And they had. There, beneath the lifted floorboard, was a folded piece of paper, covered in dust and yellowed with age. He grabbed it and quickly unfolded it, reading the words._

"_Powers of the witches rise, course unseen across the skies, return my powers, give me back, all that was taken from the attack." Chris was surrounded in blue light as his powers were returned to him._

_At that moment, Wyatt broke free of Bianca's hold and threw her across the room. She smashed into a broken table, and the leg of the table stabbed through her abdomen. Blood began to flood from the fatal wound. Chris turned in time to see her hit the table, and he screamed out in panic, pain, and grief._

"_NO!"

* * *

_

"_I didn't think you would help me if you knew the truth," Chris said softly, staring at his mother and aunts, pleading for them to understand. "I knew you wouldn't. The evil I came back from the future to stop isn't a demon. It's Wyatt."_

"_You're lying," Piper shot back, her words cold and harsh._

"_No, I'm not. He'll grow up to take over with his powers, kill even…" Chris met his mother's eyes, not sure of what else to say._

"_Why should we believe you after all the lies?" Leo demanded._

"_Because you have to," Chris replied, turning to glance at his father. They had to understand how important this was, that Wyatt had to be saved at any cost._

"_No, Chris, we don't actually," Piper said._

_Chris turned to her, prepared to argue, but he paused and thought of Wyatt, currently in the hands of the Order. They didn't have much time. "Fine, then don't. We need to save Wyatt now, and I am the one who knows how."_

"_Oh really? How?" Phoebe asked, her tone filled with disbelief._

"_The Order. They reversed his sense of morality. See, he thinks evil is good and good is evil. That's why his shield repelled you." He nodded to Leo._

"_So?"_

"_So Wyatt raises his shield around me. He thinks I'm a threat."_

"_Yeah, well, so do I," Piper answered._

_Chris pushed away the pain he felt at that comment. This was not his mother, not yet. This was still Piper, not Mom, still Piper. "Listen to me. They reversed his sense of morality. That means the shield will protect him from you, but not from me. I'm the only one who can save him! Please, let me help!" Don't let him stay evil. Don't let everything I've sacrificed go to waste._

_There was a silence, then Piper stepped up to Chris, and said, "We don't need your help, Chris. Not anymore. I will get my son back myself, and when I do, I never want to see you again. Understand?"

* * *

_

_Phoebe looked up at Chris, her brown eyes boring into him. "I am going to ask you a question, and I want the truth. No lies, no running away…"_

"_Okay," Chris whispered, badly needing her trust. He sucked in a breath apprehensively, wondering what she would ask. _

"_Are you Wyatt's little brother?"_

_Chris blinked, surprised that she had figured out the truth so quickly. He swallowed and weighed his options. He wanted to lie, but she already knew the truth… "If I can get Piper and Leo back together in time."_

_

* * *

_

_There was a loud explosion, and Phoebe lifted her eyes from the Book to frown at Paige. "I thought you were making a love potion?" she asked suspiciously._

_Paige glanced up briefly and replied simply, "I am."_

_"Then why did it blow up?" Phoebe asked, puzzled. As far she knew, love potions weren't supposed to blow up. Vanquishing potions, yes. Love potions, no..._

_Maybe I am trying to hard," Paige replied thoughtfully. She placed the ginger root she was holding down on the table and stared at the potion contemplatively._

_"Or maybe it just wasn't meant to be," Phoebe said softly, giving voice to one of here fears.  
_

_Paige looked up sharply. "Phoebe!"_

_"Come on, you weren't thinking the exact same thing?" Phoebe replied. She raised her eyebrows at Paige, and the other witch looked away guiltily._

_"No. Okay, fine, but for like a second," Paige admitted reluctantly. Then she glared at Phoebe and continued defiantly, "The point is, Chris is meant to be."_

_"Not if he changed too much by being here," Phoebe argued. "You know, messed up his own timeline." It wasn't something she wanted to think about, the death...or non-birth...of her nephew. But it was a distinct possibilty, and they had to accpet that.  
_

_Paige swallowed and looked down at the potion. She knew Phoebe was right, but she coudln't bring herself to acknowledge it. "We're talking about his very existence," she said quietly._

_Phoebe sighed heavily and said, "Paige, I know, but there is only so much we can do. Especially now with that Darklighter out there." She turned and looked back at the book, trying to think of the right words to say. "I just think that we have to face the reality that Chris' destiny might have been to come here and warn us about Wyatt, and that's all."_

_Paige nodded silently, agreeing. She took a deep breath, held it a moment, and then let it out slowly. Her eyes scanned the room, then fell on the doorway in horror. "Hey," she managed to choke out._

_Phoebe spun around, her eyes widening as she realized that Chris was standing there. How much had he overheard? "Oh my God, Chris. I am so sorry."

* * *

_

"_Yeah. Uh…Chris is your son," Paige announced. She took a deep breath and stared at Piper, waiting for a reaction._

"_Wyatt's brother," Phoebe cut in quickly, trying to clarify. "Look, I know this is huge…"_

"_No, it's…it's not huge because it's not possible. It's crazy because I'm not pregnant," Piper replied, denying the truth. She shook her head back and forth, adamant not to believe._

_Outside the room, Chris leaned against the wall, listening to the conversation. Tears pricked at his eyes, but he blinked them away. This was not the response he had hoped for from Piper._

"_Oh." "Yes." "Yeah." Phoebe and Paige quickly answered, stumbling over each other. _

"_No, I'm not. I mean, how could that happen? I mean, I know how that could happen, but it…Oh, what am I going to do?" Piper asked, clearly confused and overwhelmed._

_Chris pushed himself up off the wall and turned to walk away. She clearly wasn't ready for this. It had been a mistake to tell her. How could he expect her to embrace the idea that the lying, secretive, manipulative, neurotic white-lighter from the future was her son?_

"_Maybe you should talk to Leo about it," Phoebe suggested._

"_No, I can't," Piper refused._

"_Why?" Phoebe questioned._

"_Well, because…because. Because I can't," Piper answered, shaking her head. She began to pace, unsure of what to say or do._

_Chris stopped and bit his lip, wanting to go back to Piper, and wanting to keep walking away. After a moment of indecision, he turned back to the door and walked over to it. He swallowed nervously and knocked quietly. As Piper turned around to face him, he said hesitantly, "Is this a bad time?"

* * *

_

"_Can we talk?" Leo asked softly as he orbed onto the Golden Gate Bridge. Chris sat there, the wind blowing through his hair as he looked out at the city._

"_There's nothing to talk about," Chris replied unemotionally, refusing to meet Leo's gaze. He didn't want to see Leo right now. He didn't want to see Leo ever._

"_I think there is. A lot, actually," Leo replied._

_Why couldn't he just go away? "It doesn't matter anymore," Chris answered._

"_It does to me. I'm your father, Chris. I think I deserve to know what I did to be such a horrible parent." Chris frowned, he could hear the desperation in Leo's voice._

_The young witch-lighter slowly turned his eyes to face Leo. The two stared at each other in silence for a moment, then Chris replied quietly, "You were never_ _there for me. You were there for everyone else. Mom, Wyatt, half the world, but you were never there for me."_

_Leo swallowed and looked away. After a moment of silence, he said, "Then maybe you came back to save more than just Wyatt. Maybe you came back to save us."_

_Chris looked at the man who should have been his father. He remembered every missed birthday, every broken promise, every forgotten event. Every letter. He had tried so hard to get his father to love him. For the first fourteen years of his life, he had clung to the hope that his father would come back. Would remember him._

_Leo never did._

"_I don't think so," Chris answered coldly, then orbed out.

* * *

_

_Pain. Unbearable pain. His stomach burned. He was filled with the guilt of knowing that he could have saved Wyatt, but failed. He didn't stop Gideon. He didn't protect Wyatt. And now he was lying here, on the bed, an athame wound in his stomach._

_Pain. Dizziness. Blackness encroached upon his vision._

_Through the haze of pain he could see his father leaning over him, whispering words of comfort. He strained to hear the words, knowing that his time was short._

"_Don't give up, Chris," Leo whispered._

_Chris tried to smiled and murmured, "You either."_

_Unbearable pain. Burning. Dizziness. Guilt. Fear. Pain. _

_Blackness.

* * *

Next Chapter: Fragments and Remnants_

_Due: Now _


	8. Fragments and Remnants

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: Since I answered all of the reviews on the last chapter, I don't actually have anything to say here.

* * *

Chapter Seven: Fragments and Remnants 

Chris opened one eye and tried to take stock of his surroundings. He was lying on something hard and cold, but he couldn't figure out what it was. He was bent at a weird angle, and through his one open eye, he could see what appeared to be the underside of a table.

He blinked and closed both eyes.

His head was pounding, his throat felt dry and scratchy, his eyes burned. He tried to swallow, but there was no moisture in his mouth. How did he get here? And where exactly was here? Should he call for help?

Who would he call? Wyatt? No, that didn't seem like a good idea, but he couldn't figure out why. Why was he suddenly so afraid of Wyatt?

Maybe he should try his parents? No, that idea was instantly rejected. His father never came, and just the thought of the man made Chris' blood boil. And his mother… He felt an ache somewhere deep in his chest, but he didn't know what it was.

What was going on?

Who should he call? Who was left?

"Bianca," he groaned, rolling over to his side. He felt the contents of his stomach threaten to come up his throat. "Bianca."

Who the hell was Bianca?

The name appeared in his mind instatly, accompanined by a brief glimpse of a girl. His memory was blurry, and he couldn't conjure up a clear picture of her. And while the name sounded familiar, he was unable to place her in context. Who was she? How did he know her?

He heard the pounding of footsteps and then a voice calling out to him, "Chris?" The voice sounded like it was so far away. It was muffled and soft. He shut his eyes tighter and shook his head, trying to clear the fog that was surrounding his brain. Who was this person calling to him, and what did he or she want?

"Chris!" the voice was closer this time, and he could hear panic in it. He opened his eyes and then shut them almost instantly, blinded by the bright light. Who had turned the light on? "Who…?" he managed to ask, before a sudden wave of pain caused him to groan and curl into a fetal position.

"Chris!"

This time he opened his eyes and turned slowly towards the sound of the voice. A pair of dark brown eyes came into view. Chris blinked again, and a face appeared. A face he knew, but didn't know. A face of a person who had died so many years ago.

But she wasn't dead. Why would she be dead? What was he thinking that she had died? Of course she was still alive.

"Mom," Chris whispered.

"I'm here, sweetheart," the voice said. A pair of arms wrapped around him, holding him tightly. "I'm going to call for your father. He'll take care of you."

He won't come. He never came. Except… Except every time Chris even so much as whispered the word Dad, he knew the man would come. He always came, so why was Chris suddenly so surprised that he was going to come?

The room filled with bright lights, and Chris instinctively closed his eyes tighter. Another pair of arms wrapped around him, and he felt as though he was being torn into a million tiny pieces. The next thing he knew, he was lying on something soft and a man was telling him not to worry, that everything would be okay.

He opened his eyes and looked up into the worried faces of his parents. "What…what happened?" he croaked, swallowing the bitter taste in his mouth.

"I don't know, sweetheart. I came downstairs, and you were passed out on the kitchen floor. What do you remember?" Piper asked softly, running a hand through her son's hair.

"Nothing…it's all a haze. It's all…"

"Do you remember anything?" Leo asked, trying his best to keep the fear and worry out of his voice. He still had his hands placed over Chris' chest, but no gold glow appeared around them. Chris would not heal.

"No…I remember…nothing except…" Chris closed his eyes for a moment and whispered, "Blood. Scared. Demons. Sword. Wyatt. Dad. Dad never came. Mom. Blood. Demons. Bianca…" His voice was so soft and low that neither Leo nor Piper could hear what he was saying.

"What was that, Chris?" Piper asked softly. "What did you say?"

"Bianca," Chris said louder. The name resounded in his head, but he couldn't figure out who it belonged to. "Bianca!" he shouted,as though hoping that if he said it loud enough, the answeres would come. "Bianca!"

Piper and Leo exchanged a worried glance, then turned and stared at Chris in shock.

The air in front of Chris suddenly rippled, and a figure appeared. She stared down at Chris, her brown eyes narrowed with concern and fear. Her dark hair was pulled back into a casual ponytail, a few stray hairs falling over her face. She pushed the strands away impatiently and said, "Chris? Are you alright?"

"YOU!" Piper screeched, jumping to her feet and raising her hands to blow up the Phoenix. "What are you doing here?"

Chris twisted on the sofa and looked up at Bianca. The minute their eyes met, he remembered. The fog disappeared from his mind, leaving behind the stark truth. He jumped to his feet and shoved his father aside, scrambling to Bianca's side.

"I remember."

"What?" Bianca demanded, glancing apprehensively at Piper and then switching her gaze back to Chris. "What do you mean, you remember?" She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "What did you do?"

"Mom, Dad, Chris?" Wyatt asked, suddenly appearing in a swirl of orbs. "Is everything alright?" he asked worriedly, his eyes wide with panic. "I was at Courtney's apartment and I felt...I felt that something was wrong and I was really worried, and Courtney said she wouldn't mind if I left to check on you all, so I orbed here and..." He stopped his babblying suddenly as his gaze well upon the dark haired assassin. "Bianca?" he finished in disbelief, staring at the witch.

Piper swung around to face Wyatt. "You know her?" she demanded. "How do you know her?" Leo placed a hand on his wife's shoulder to try and calm her down, but he too looked up at Wyatt, waiting for an answer.

Chris jumped away from Wyatt the minute he entered the room. He glared at his brother, then turned his gaze around to his parents. "You lied to me! You lied to me about everything," he cried, suddenly upset.

"Chris, what's going on?" Bianca asked again, confused. Her eyes darted back and forth between the seething Charmed One and Elder, and the confused Twice Blessed. She licked dry lips and prayed silently that everything would turn out okay.

"Chris, what is this woman doing here? Who is she, and how do you know her?" Piper demanded, turning from her oldest son to her youngest. She would speak to Wyatt later, once she had dealt with Chris and Bianca.

Chris stood in between his seething mother and his girlfriend. He glanced back at Bianca quickly, checking to make sure that the Phoenix was okay. She smiled back at him, but he could see the worry in her eyes.

"Christopher Halliwell, answer me when I ask you a question!" Piper ordered, struggling to keep her temper in check. What the hell was this woman doing with her son?

"This is Bianca, Mom. But I do believe you've met her already," Chris answered coolly.

Piper gasped in shock. "You…remember?"

"Yes, I do," Chris spat. "I remember growing up in a hell world, sacrificing everything, including my fiancée, to save it, and coming to the past where my entire family _hated_ me."

"How?" Leo asked softly.

"I drank a memory restoration potion," Chris answered. Piper opened her mouth to say something, but Chris cut her off. "And yes, I know that drinking the potion was dangerous. I did it anyway. Call me crazy, but I thought I had a right to know about my past."

"What past? What are you talking about?" Wyatt demanded, walking all the way in to the living room and standing next to his parents.

"Wyatt, give us a moment to talk to your brohter in private," Piper ordered. She turned her back on her oldest son in an abrupt dismisal, and hurt flashed through Wyatt's eyes. But Piper was too focused on her younger son and the Phoenix to notice. Instead, she said in a deathly quiet voice, "Chris, you are going to tell Bianca to leave, and then you are going to sit down and tell me exactly what you saw in those memories and what on earth you were thinking when you made the potion."

"No," Chris snapped back. "I'm not a kid anymore, you can't order me around."

"Chris, do not speak to your mother like that," Leo reprimanded. "Wyatt, go upstairs, this doesn't concern you."

"No, it concerns Chris and his assassin girlfriend," Piper muttered under her breath.

"Fiancée," Chris corrected her acidly, knowing the comment with only cause Piper more worry and frustration.

Piper went pale. She glanced at Bianca's hand and was slightly relieved to see that there was no engagement ring on her finger.

"Fiancée? You proposed to her? You didn't tell me that," Wyatt said, still unclear as to what was going on.

"Why would I tell you? So you could kill her again?" Chris demanded.

"Again?" Now Wyatt was truly bewildered. "_What_ is going on?"

"Chris, that was a different life. Your brother is not evil," Leo said softly. "You changed that, remember?"

Chris swallowed and shook his head. "I remember, Dad. I remember _everything_." He glared at the man who had failed so completely to be his father in a previous life, then shook his head. "I can't believe you would keep this from me," he said softly.

"Chris…"

"I guess I really don't know who you are after all," Chris whispered. He reached behind him and took Bianca's hand, then orbed the two of them away.

* * *

"You drank a memory restoration potion?" Bianca demanded angrily. "Are you out of your mind?" She paced back and forth across the floor of her apartment, while Chris watched her in silence. Lynn stood to one side, her lips pressed into a thin line. Bianca had called her and explained everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours, and she had insisted on staying with her daughter in case the Halliwell's tried to attack either of them. 

"I wanted to know the truth," Chris said stubbornly, averting his eyes and staring at the inky night sky through the window.

"You had the truth," Bianca replied. "I told you the truth. I told you what happened in that other timeline. Why did you have to _see_ it?"

"You told me what you knew. What your mother knew. It wasn't much, and I wanted to know all of it. It was my life, after all," Chris defended himself.

"And what did you find out that was so important?" Lynn asked quietly. "What memory could have possibly been worth risking your life on a potion that could have killed you."

"It wasn't going to kill me," Chris snapped. He shot a glance at Lynn and continued, "Besides, since when do you care what happens to me?"

"Chris!" Bianca hissed, her eyes widening in anger.

"You've made it perfectly clear I'm not good enough for your daughter," Chris continued, ignoring Bianca's rebuke.

"You aren't," Lynn replied bluntly. She folded her arms over her chest and glared at Chris in anger. "But, for some reason that is completely beyond my understanding, Bianca actually loves you. And since what happens to you will affect her, mentally and emotionally if not physically, it _is_ my concern. _She_ is my concern." Her voice was icy.

Chris opened his mouth to respond, but Bianca cut him off.

"I think we need to focus on the matter at hand," the young Phoenix announced, shooting an angry glare at her mother. "Obviously, you are going to need to go back and confront your family at some point."

"No!" Chris snarled. "I'm not talking to them."

"Chris, you are being unreasonable," Bianca said, trying to get Chris to see her point of view. "They love you, they are worried about you. You can't just disappear."

Chris turned and looked at Bianca, and she noticed that his eyes appeared haunted. His voice was soft, and filled with what she could only assume was despair. "I can't face them. I can't… Wyatt was _evil_. Prue _betrayed_ me. Dad was never there, Mom died when I was fourteen. Aunt Paige was married to a guy named Richard and I had different cousins. Everything is so screwed up, I can't…" He sighed and closed his eyes. "They hated me in the past. Really hated me."

"That was before they know who you were!" Bianca replied angrily. "You can't just walk out on your family, Chris."

"They didn't like me after they knew who I was either," Chris answered quietly, opening his eyes and looking up at Bianca. "Phoebe and Paige said they didn't think I was meant to be." He walked over to the sofa and sunk into it, suddenly exhausted.

Bianca blinked, confused, and shot a look at her mother. Lynn shrugged, not really caring about the confusion and pain Chris was going through. The older Phoenix crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, leaving her daughter to deal with the emotionally distraught witch-lighter.

"What exactly do you remember? What memories were restored?" Bianca answered.

Chris looked up at her and shook his head. "Not many. Just…more feelings, really. Anger at my Dad, pain when my Mom died, disgust at what happened to Wyatt…I remember a few memories also, but nothing is coherent…" He closed his eyes again and rubbed them wearily. "It's just like…bits and pieces…remnants, residue, traces…of this other life…" Chris explained, trying to find the words to describe what he was feeling.

"So the potion didn't return all of your memories?" Bianca asked, confused. "Why wouldn't it?"

"I don't know," Chris answered. "Don't really care, either," he disinterestedly waved away Bianca's question. He swallowed and continued in a shaky voice, "But I can't go back to my family yet. I can't face them, I can't deal with that, I just _can't_…"

"Well, you are going to have to," Lynn said unemotionally. She walked over to Chris and pulled him roughly to his feet. "Right now, your parents are probably storming my apartment, prepared to vanquish Bianca and I on sight. If you don't deal with this, with them, they might actually do it." She lowered her voice so that it was barely more than a whisper, so that Bianca could not hear, and continued, "And I swear to you, Chris, if you do anything to get my daughter hurt, the misery and pain you are feeling now will be _nothing_ compared to what I do to you…" And she shimmered away without another word.

Bianca watched her mother disappear, then turned her attention to Chris. He had sunk back onto the couch and was staring unseeingly at the air in front of him. His hands were clenched at his sides and his face was stark white.

"So…" Bianca said, taking a seat next to Chris on the sofa. "You want to talk at all?"

"No," Chris said stonily.

Bianca frowned and sighed. "Come on, Chris, talk to me. Tell me what's going on." She placed her hand on his elbow, trying to get him to face her.

"What's going on?" Chris mimicked. He turned and looked at her, his eyes red and puffy, his face streaked with tears. "Can I just…don't ask me anything right now, okay?" he whispered. "Just let me stay here. In silence." He got up and walked away from her, over to the window. The sun was just starting to rise in the east, casting red rays of light over the water. Staring out through the glass, Chris watched as a few boats made there way up the coast.

Bianca stared at him for a moment, her heart breaking. In the few years she had known him, she had never seen him sound this defeated or look this lost.

"Sure," she answered gently. "You can stay here for as long as you want."

* * *

The Seer stared at her pool for a moment, then turned and looked at the demon. "That was interesting," she commented. "I really admire your skill. Sending the idea of the memory restoration potion… a master stroke." 

The demon agreed smugly, "Indeed, it would appear that way, wouldn't it?" He shrugged casually and said, "The stress is building. I know the Charmed Ones, I know how they work. All we need is to put a little bit more pressure on them…"

"And they'll crack?" the Seer murmured. She glanced back at the image of Chris and Bianca in the pool and asked, "And how do you suggest we do that?"

The demon grinned and replied, "How do you think?" There was one sure fire way to raise the stress levels of the Halliwell's.

Demon attack.

"With all the secrets and lies they are telling, they handed us a loaded gun," the Seer said quietly. Her eyes shone with anticipation and greed. "What do you say we pull the trigger?"

* * *

Next Chapter: Divide and Conquer

Due: Wed 11/23


	9. Divide and Conquer

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's Note: This was a really difficult chapter for me to write, and it is also kind of long because I had so much that needed to happen. So I apologize if my writing is not up to its normal standard, I focused more on dialogue than anything else in this chapter.

Re: Mellaithwen: Thanks for the review, I'm glad you liked it (and thought it was sweet.)

Re: CharmedOne24: Yes, Chris did manage to stand up to his family. I'm glad you thought I was still keeping Chris in character, I am trying really hard to keep everyone close to the show. That is why it is so nice to write my own characters; with Prue and Mel and Pen I don't have to worry about how I portray them, because I know I'm always right. :)

Re: akemi: I am so glad you like Lynn, I was worried her character would not be that well recieved. I was trying to make her sort of like Piper. She loves Bianca so much, but she can't stand Chris, whereas Piper loves Chris and can't stand Bianca. I also was trying to show how protective the Phoenixes are of each other. That always intrigued me, the fact that they were portrayed as neither good nor evil, and loyal only to themselves. And if you read on, you will get to see Piper's and Leo's reactions, and part of how Wyatt deals.

Re: Anamalia-fear: Thanks for the review. I am trying to update quickly, but of course, coming up with a chapter takes time. However, you should get one or two chapters a week.

Re: Sparkling Cherries: I'm glad you liked the chapter and my final line. I actually was originally going to end on a completely different note, and then I realized how good (and evil) it would be to end with the 'pull the trigger' comment. So I stopped there.

Re: bunn2007: I'm glad you liked the memories. I had fun writing the ones that were from the other timeline. Keep reading (and reviewing) and hopefully you will like the next chapters just as well.

Re: crazyDFFgang: I'm glad you liked it all, and as for your review being later than you intended, better late than never, right:) Chris remembers some stuff about the other timeline. Mostly, he remembers feelings and emotions, but only a few memories from the unchanged future. As for why he doesn't remember everything and if the other memories will come back, you'll have to keep reading and see. The next couple chapters are more Halliwell family and less Chris/Bianca focused, so you'll get to see Wyatt's reaction to everything then also.

Re: RushmoreDoll: Thanks for the review. I'm glad you liked my portrayal of Chris. I am really trying to show the good and the bad in him, instead of just making him out to be a great hero. I know a lot of fanfics have him like that, and I wanted to make his character a little less good and a little more ambivalent. He is, after all, human like everyone else.

Re: Karone Evertree: Thanks for the review. Chris remembers everything about this new life, but only some fragments about his past life (the other Chris). Although, right now, everything is just sort of jumbled in his mind, he will sort it all out soon.The reason you may not remember why the demon and Seer are after the Charmed Ones is because I haven't told you yet. And their plan is much more than just killing the Halliwells. But I don't want to give anything away, so that will all be revealed in time.

Re: NothingButSarah: Thanks for the review. Keep reading, and review whenever possible. I'm not to picky about how often people review, I'm just glad you're reading it at all.

Re: walutahanga: I'm glad you like it. I'm trying to keep all of the action spread out as much as possible because it takes a while to set up my actual main story line. As for finding out about the demon and the Seer, I can tell you now that they won't be revealed for a while. They'll just be shadowy figures for the next several chapters, but their identities will come out eventually.

Re: JadeAlmasy: Thanks for the review, I'm glad you like it. Keep reading (and reviewing if you can).

Re: starra86: I'm glad you like this story, and I am really glad that you like This Brilliant Dance. The updates for this story should come once or twice a week, the updates for This Brilliant Dance should come a bit slower, maybe once a week or so. Have you heard the song This Brilliant Dance by Dashboard Confessionals? It is really, really good. Also, if you are a Tess fan, you might like my stories Prologue: Checkmate, and the Crucible. (They are majorly pro-Tess, and sort of anti-everyone else, especially Max, so if you don't like Tess, you won't like them). They are part of a series, so Checkmate should be read first. OK, that was a shameless plug for my own writing, but what can I say? I like having people read my stuff.

Re: Beleninwe: Keep reading, the trigger's about to get pulled.

As always, read and review.

* * *

Chapter Eight: Divide and Conquer

Paige barely had time to duck the as the dark-lighter fired a poison tipped arrow at her.

She had woken up in the middle of the night, suddenly unable to sleep, and wandered into the kitchen for a glass of water. But the minute she had stepped into the kitchen, the dark-lighter attack had sent her running for cover behind the table. From her hiding place, she managed to call for a lamp and send it crashing into the dark-lighter's head. He stumbled and dropped his crossbow, then regained his balance and snarled at Paige.

Paige got up and extended her hand. "Crossbow," she called, then redirected the weapon so that it orbed across the room and away from the dark-lighter. "Athame!" An athame sitting on the counter flew into her hand, and she threw it with deadly accuracy at the offending dark-lighter. He erupted into flames.

Paige ran a hand through her hair and walked over to the crossbow. She reached down and picked it up, planning on taking it over to the Manor. Piper could blow it up for her, or Wyatt could incinerate it with an energy ball.

"Paige?" Kyle hurried into the room, having heard the sound of a fight. He frowned, seeing his wife holding a potentially deadly weapon. "What happened?"

"Dark-lighter attack," Paige explained. She placed the crossbow on the table and quickly hurried to reassure her husband. "I took care of him. Athame to the chest."

"Oh, good," Kyle said quietly, relieved.

"Why was there an athame on the table?" Paige asked suddenly. "I thought we agreed to keep them hidden. I don't want Mel and Pen to start playing with them or something."

"They are thirteen. They aren't going to start playing with a knife," Kyle replied. "It was different when they were younger…especially when Mel started teething on athames…"

Paige paled, remembering that particular memory. She had walked into the kitchen to find Mel sitting at the table with a deadly sharp knife in her mouth, biting happily on the cold metal. Kyle was supposed to be watching the twins, but he had turned his back on his daughter for a moment, and she had somehow found the athame that Paige and Kyle kept hidden in the pantry.

"Anyway," Kyle continued, bringing Paige out of her reverie, "it is different now. Our kids are older, and since none of us have particularly offensive powers, I think it is a good idea to have weapons around. I mean, orbing is good for running away, but not much else."

Paige nodded reluctantly, but added, "Well, it is easy for you to say. You weren't the one who had to see Mel eating a knife. Do you have any idea how scared I was?"

"You didn't let Mel out of your sight for even a moment for the next seven months. If I recall correctly, you even wanted to move the nursery into our bedroom," Kyle replied, laughing.

Paige grinned slightly, thinking about how overprotective she had been. "Yeah…"

She and Kyle were so preoccupied reminiscing about Mel and Pen, neither noticed the second dark-lighter who appeared in the living room in a swirl of black orbs.

Until the arrow hit Paige in the back and she crumpled to the floor with a groan.

Kyle dropped to Paige's side instantly, his face creased with worry lines. "No!" he whispered, panicked. He looked up at the dark-lighter angrily, but the dark-lighter just grinned and shot another arrow. Kyle took Paige's hand and orbed the two of them away, and the arrow passed through the space where he had been kneeling.

* * *

"I can't believe he would drink a memory restoration potion," Piper muttered to herself as she trudged up the stairs to the attic. Leo had gone to get Paige and Phoebe, and then he had promised Wyatt that he would explain the entire story. Piper was not pleased with that decision, but she supposed it was too late to do anything about it now. She only hoped Wyatt would be able to accept the past… 

In the meantime, Wyatt had concealed himself in the basement and refused to talk to anyone. Piper knew he had probably already guessed a lot of what Leo was about to tell him, and he was hurting.  
But when she had tried to talk to him, he told her to leave him alone until Leo got back and could tell him the story. So, resigned to the fact that Wyatt would not talk to her until he knew everything, she had turned her attention towards helping her other son.

She shoved open the door to the attic and walked over to the Book, fuming silently. She had only just opened the Book when the sound of chimes and the swirl of lights announced the arrival of her youngest sister and brother-in-law.

"Paige!" Piper cried, panic rising in her chest as she saw the blood seeping across Paige's shirt. "No!" she screamed, running towards her sister and brother-in-law.

Kyle backed away from his wife and muttered, "Call Leo! I need to go back for Mel and Pen in case the dark-lighter is still there," then he disappeared. Piper bent down and snapped off the end of the arrow. Paige groaned again, barely conscious, but able to feel the pain throbbing through her back as Piper yanked out the poison-tipped weapon.

Leo appeared in a swirl of lights, bringing Phoebe, Jason, and Prue with him. He took one look at Paige and ran over to her, keeling down and extending his hands over her bloody chest. The occupants of the room waited with abated breath, watching as the familiar golden gow radiated from Leo's fingers.

Kyle orbed back in with Mel and Pen just in time to see Paige open one eye and ask wearily, "What…?"

"Dark-lighter attack," Kyle explained, running to his wife and hugging her in relief, silently willing himself not to panic in front of his daughters. No reason for them to know how close their mother had come to death.

"But I vanquished him," Paige said in confusion, pulling back from Kyle and crawling slowly to her feet. Mel and Pen hurried over to her once she was standing and flung their arms around her, but Paige, still confused, was focused on Kyle. "I vanquished him with Mel's teething ring."

A look of bewilderment spread across the faces of the everyone else in the room besides Kyle, but Kyle simply shook his head and said, "Different dark-lighter."

"Like that one!" Prue cried suddenly, jumping away from her parents and into a defensive stance as a dark-lighter black orbed into the room. Piper spun around and flicked her wrists, blowing up the dark-lighter. But as soon as he disappeared, two more took his place.

"What is going on?" Phoebe cried, kicking one dark-lighter to the floor. "Since when do dark-lighters work together?"

"Anyone with white-lighter blood and Jason, get out of here," Piper ordered as she blew up another dark-lighter. Leo, Paige, and Kyle orbed away quickly, taking the others with them and seeking sanctuary in the first floor of the Manor. Prue, Piper, and Phoebe were left behind to face their attackers.

Prue closed her eyes for a brief moment and quickly called upon her powers. As she felt the magic begin to flow through her, she extended her hands outward, and the room suddenly howled with wind. The dark-lighters paused, surprised by the storm, and Prue shot a burst of fire from her finger tips, incinerating the second dark-lighter.

Three more took his place.

Phoebe kicked one dark-lighter in the chest, vanquishing him with the stiletto heel of her shoe. She hit the other in the nose with the heel of her hand, and he was thrown backwards and across the room. He hit a table full of potion's botles; the bottles shattered and exploded with a deafening crash, vanquishing the dark-lighter. Piper managed to blow up the last one, but not before two more black-orbed in. One of them knocked Piper across the room with a telekinetic blast, and she fell to the floor, stunned. The other grabbed Prue from behind, pinning her arms to her sides and preventing her from using her powers.

"Mom!" Prue called, panicked.

Phoebe spun around and stared in helpless horror as the dark-lighter shoved the pointed tip of an athame into Prue's back. The young witch crumpled to the floor in a heap, and Phoebe screamed out in terror.

"NO!"

Piper pulled herself to her knees and saw her oldest niece lying on the floor, covered in blood. With an angry flick of her wrist, she blew up the dark-lighter that had attacked Prue. The last dark-lighter, seeing the fury in the faces of the two Charmed Ones, wisely orbed out.

"Prue, sweetie," Phoebe whispered, hurrying over to her daughter and frantically checking for a heartbeat. She sagged visibly in relief once she felt the faint but steady pulse.

"Leo, Kyle!" Piper called as she too knelt down next to Prue.

The Elder, the white-lighter, Jason, Mel, and Pen, all appeared in a flurry of bright lights, followed quickly by Paige. Kyle hurried to Prue and began to heal the rapidly growing mortal wound. Leo followed suit, and under the combined powers of the two Prue's gash began to close. Mel and Pen hung back, wanting to stay out of the way, while Jason stared at his daughter in silent horror.

"Mom…" Prue whispered as she opened her eyes.

Phoebe pulled her daughter into a hug and then traded worried glances with Piper. "That was too close. We almost lost Paige and Prue…"

"Since when do dark-lighters work in teams?" Piper asked as she stood up and walked over to the Book.

"Teams?" Leo asked, nervous. "How many where there?" Teamwork in the Underworld was never a good thing.

"There must have been nine or ten in all," Piper explained. She flipped through the pages, searching for something, anything, that would help her. "They just kept coming."

"Maybe they finally learned to share," Prue quipped, pulling away from her mother. She glanced over at her father, seeing the fear in his eyes and tried to send him a reassuring smile. "Someone sent them all to kindergarten."

"This isn't time for jokes," Kyle said seriously, although he did crack a small smile at Prue's comment. "If the Underworld is reorganizing…"

"We don't know anything for certain," Leo pointed out. "The Elders haven't informed me of anything, and if someone was organizing the Underworld, they would know about it."

"Not if it was being done quietly," Phoebe replied. "I mean, the Elders didn't know that the Triad had been vanquished by Cole, or that the Source had been reincarnated into Cole, or that…"

"Okay, we get the point," Piper said quietly. She turned to Leo and continued, "And it is a good point."

"But the Elders sensed the shift in power when the Titans were released, when the wizard tried to take Cole's powers, when the Seer and the Source were finally vanquished." Leo pointed out, shurgging. "And they had heard rumors about the demise of the Triad."

Piper slammed the cover of the Book shut and said, "So basically, someone may or may not be organizing the Underworld, my son has gone AWOL, and dark-lighters are making armies and attacking us."

"Chris' gone?" Paige asked, suddenly afraid. She closed her eyes quickly and tried to sense for her nephew, but came up blank. "Nothing. I don't sense him at all," she murmured. "He's blocking me."

Piper rubbed her eyes and said sarcastically, "Of course he is. Because it would be too easy for us otherwise."

"How?" Phoebe asked quietly. "I thought Chris didn't know how to block us?" She turned to Leo and said, "You told us that the other day, in Chris' room."

Leo bit his lip, thinking. He had not taught Chris how to conceal himself so that he or Wyatt would be able to sense the young witch-lighter at all times and make sure he didn't do anything stupid or get into any magical trouble. But the one time that they needed to find him, he had somehow figured out how to take himself off their radar.

Finally, the Elder said, "Maybe he isn't doing it on purpose. Maybe it is unintentional." Leo closed his eyes, thinking, his expression drawn and worried. If Chris was unintentionally blocking them, it meant his subconscious _really_ did not want to be found.

"Dad?" Wyatt's head appeared in the doorway. His face was pale and his eyes were rimmed with red. He looked as though he was in shock. "You said you would tell me… you would explain everything…" He paused and looked around the attic. "What happened?" he asked, his eyes wide.

"Dark-lighter attack," Leo replied dully. He and Piper exchanged a brief look, then Leo turned and walked towards his eldest son. "Come on, I'll tell you what you want to know." The two disappeared down the stairs, and Piper watched them go, an apprehensive look on her face.

"Explain what?" Prue demanded. She could tell by the look on Piper's face that something big had happened. "Where is Chris? What do you mean he is AWOL?"

"Prue, take Mel and Pen and go downstairs," Piper ordered quickly, sending Phoebe a quick glance. She did not want the three younger witches to know what was going on. Not yet, anyway… She rubbed her tired eyes and silently acknowledged the fact that they would all have to be told eventually. The cat was out of the bag...

But not right now. Right now, they needed to find Chris and bring him home. Then they could deal with all of the fall out from everything else.

"But if Chris is in trouble…" Pen began to protest, not wanting to be kept out of the loop, but Phoebe cut her off.

"Go," she said wearily. She turned to Prue. "You shouldn't even be here, we told you to stay at home."

"When Uncle Leo comes to get you in the middle of the night, it is obviously important. I wanted to know! I have a right to know," Prue replied heatedly.

"Go," Phoebe repeated, not backing down from the order.

Prue sighed and turned away, stalking angrily from the room. Mel and Pen followed reluctantly, knowing that they were fighting a losing battle.

Once the three were gone, Piper turned to her sisters and brothers-in-law and began to explain.

* * *

"I _still_ can't believe he would drink a memory restoration potion," Piper declared as she paced the attic. She had just finished recounting the events of the evening. She glanced over at Phoebe, who was scrying for Chris, and shook her head. "What was he thinking?" 

"He was thinking that he wanted answers, and nobody would give them to him," Jason said slowly, watching as his wife continued to twirl the crystal above the map. He was still in shock from the revelation of the evening. Having never met Chris while he was in the past, he had no idea that the young witch-lighter had saved the world.

Piper spun on Jason and hissed, "Why would we give him those answers? Why would he need to know that? It would only hurt him." She ran a hand through her hair and took a shaky breath. She had not told Jason what had ended up happening to Chris. She had not told him that Chris had... She couldn't even bring herself to think the word. "I can't believe Chris would do this."

"I can," Paige replied, more to herself than anyone else in the room. She sat on the sofa next to Kyle, watching her older sisters. At Piper's glare, she just shrugged and said, "Well, I can. He wanted answers..."

"I wonder how is Wyatt doing," Kyle murmured quickly, wanting to divert the conversation away from the possibly dangerous territory of Chris' justifications. "Now that he knows…?"

Piper glanced over at Kyle, then turned away. "Leo is with him. He'll help him through it." She said the words with much more confidence then she actually felt.

"I hope so…" Paige crossed her arms and leaned back against Kyle for support. She thought back to the defeated and broken look on Wyatt face when he had come up to the attic earlier, and her heart broke for him. It must be so hard for him to hear the truth about who he was, and what he had done.

"This is all Bianca's fault," Piper snapped abruptly, breaking the awkward silence that had fallen over the room. "I swear to God I am going to vanquish her!"

"Uh, Piper, vanquishing Chris' girlfriend might not be the best way to get him back," Jason pointed out.

"You don't know what she did! You weren't there, you didn't see! That tramp stuck her fist in my son's chest," Piper snarled, closing her eyes and remembering Chris, lying on the sofa, the huge wound from Bianca's fist on his chest. She could picture him so clearly, twisting and turning as he dreamt about the nightmares of his past. Bianca had done that to him, and Jason actually had the nerve to defend her...? "You don't have a clue what you are talking about!"

"Hey, I'm just saying that maybe we should try to find Chris and talk to him," Jason defended himself. "Explain to him why you kept everything a secret, and maybe he will come back." He crossed his arms and glared at Piper. Chris wasn't the only one who hated being kept out of the loop.

"Why should I ask for his forgiveness?" Piper demanded. "I did what was right."

"No," a voice from the door said, "You didn't."

All eyes turned to see Wyatt standing in the door, his blue eyes unnaturally subdued. He ran hand through his blonde hair, and stepped into the room. "I know that you were only trying to protect us, but don't you see that by lying to Chris, you just pushed him away?"

"Wyatt, honey…" Piper began, but Wyatt held up his hand.

"I need to tell you all something."

Leo appeared behind Wyatt on the stairs and he too walked into the room. He stood next to Piper, wrapping his arms around her waist, and waiting for his son to say whatever it was he wanted to say.

"Chris and Bianca have been dating for two years," Wyatt said softly.

There was a gasp, then Phoebe asked, "You knew about this?"

"Not until a few days ago," Wyatt replied. He licked his dry lips and said, "Chris told Prue and I that he had had this…vision. He saw himself proposing to Bianca. At the time, I asked him why he hadn't told any of us about her, and he said it was because he wanted to have some part of his life that was just his."

"I don't understand," Piper said. "What did he mean?"

"He meant he had been kept out of magic his entire life, and he felt as though he was unable to share in a huge part of this family's heritage. He felt alienated, and being with Bianca gave him a sense of belonging. It was _his_ secret."

"I told you we shouldn't have kept this all from him," Paige snorted.

"Who asked you?" Piper shot back. She turned to Wyatt again and said, "I'm not alienating your brother, I'm trying to keep him alive. Do you have any idea what it is like to have your son die? Killed by someone you trusted?"

"What?" Jason demanded, shocked. Chris had _died?_

"You didn't tell him?" Wyatt asked. He frowned and said, "Well, it is good to know that I wasn't the only one kept in the dark."

"Wait, Chris died?" Jason asked. "You left that part out." He crossed his arms and turned to Phoebe. "This is exactly what I am talking about! I married into this family, and you neglect to tell me that Chris traveled to the past and was killed? Did you think I wouldn't ever find it out?"

"I didn't think it was any of your business," Phoebe snapped. "We took care of the problem, we saved Wyatt."

"But you told Kyle?" Jason countered.

"He is our white-lighter," Phoebe snarled, slamming the scrying crystal onto the map. "He is a part of the entire magical circus that goes on around here. We had to tell him."

"And I am a part of this family too! Magical or otherwise!" Jason hissed. "Prue almost died tonight, and you almost die every week. Whatever happens in this family _will _affect me, so I have a right to know about it. I have more than a right, I have a _need_. "

"Guys, this might not be the best time for this argument," Paige cut in, wanting to stop Jason's rant before it got out of hand.

Unfortunately, Jason would not let the issue go. "No, I think it is the perfect time," he replied. "Go ahead and say it, Phoebe. I'm not good enough for you, because I'm not magical."

"Jason! I married you, didn't I?" Phoebe retorted. "I love you. You _are_ my family."

"Am I?" Jason asked softly. "Sometimes I'm not so sure."

There was a silence in the room, then Kyle said gently, "I think we are getting off track. We need to find Chris and get him back here. Phoebe's scrying is clearly not working, so anyone have any other ideas?"

"Well, we know where Bianca's mother lives," Paige said thoughtfully. "We could start there. She probably knows where Chris is, or at least where Bianca is."

"And we can find her and vanquish her, then bring Chris home," Piper murmured.

Paige rolled her eyes at Piper. "How did this even all get started? Was it with Chris' vision?" she asked, turning to Wyatt.

Wyatt nodded and slowly retold the events of the past few days, starting with Chris' vision, going through his brief meeting with Bianca, Prue finding the picture, and Wyatt having the premonition where Piper erased Prue's memory, and Mel and Pen recounted the conversation between Piper and Leo that they had overheard. He however left out the part where Mel informed them that Chris was in love.

Jason spun on Piper, fury etched on his face. "You erased my daughter's memory? Who the hell gave you the right to use magic on my daughter?" Phoebe, nodded, furious at her sister for doing this without her consent.

Piper glared back at them defiantly, and replied coldly, "I did what I had to do to keep my son safe."

"Yeah…too bad you failed at protecting him," Paige snapped. She stood up and continued, "I told you that you had to stop treating Chris differently. I warned you about what would happen. Yet you refused to listen to me, and now you are reaping the results of that!"

Piper shook her head, wanting to deny the truth in Paige's words. Needing a scapegoat to blame, she rounded on Leo in cold fury. "You shouldn't have saved that picture. None of this would have happened if you had just listened to me when I said I wanted to destroy all the evidence."

"If I had listen to you every time you made a decision about how to treat Chris, he would be dead now," Leo shot back. "Did you know that he had no idea how to control his powers? That I had to sneak around you and Wyatt to take him Up There and train him so he would be able to defend himself in a battle?"

"You what?" Piper screeched. "You went behind my back and intentionally disregarded my decision about Chris?"

"He is my son too!"

"Oh, now he is your son. Now that you realized how much of a screw up you were in the past life," Piper snarled. She shook her head and laughed bitterly.

Leo stepped back as though he had been slapped, then turned away from Piper and walked over to the window. The hurt and uncertainty showed on his face.

"This is what happens when married couples keep secrets," Jason said coldly. He spun on his heel and stalked from the room.

"Where are you going?" Phoebe called out.

"I'm going for a walk. Why don't you have one of your _magical_ family members orb you and Prue home. And don't bother waiting up for me," Jason snarled, his voice laced with venom. And then he was gone, slamming the attic door behind him.

There was an awkward and uncomfortable silence in the room, then Wyatt asked in a strangled voice, "So…I was really evil?"

"You weren't evil, Wyatt," Paige rushed to assure her nephew. "You were turned, and we saved you. Look at how good of a person you are now."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Wyatt asked, raising haunted eyes to stare at his youngest Aunt. "All the times I went to you to ask you to talk to Mom…All the times I told you I thought Mom was being unfair treating Chris the way she was…All the times I told you I thought Mom and Dad were keeping secrets from me… Why didn't you tell me?"

"It wasn't her secret to tell," Piper cut in. "And what do you mean you told Paige I was being unfair? You went to her behind my back?"

"This isn't about you, Piper," Paige snapped. "This is about Chris. And yes, Wyatt came to me, because at least _I_ listened to his problems." She shot a quick look at her oldest nephew, then turned to Piper, a smirk fixed on her features.

_Paige has always thought that she was better than any of you._

"Oh, rub it in, why don't you?" Phoebe snapped, breaking into the conversation.

"What?" Paige asked in confusion, turning to the middle sister.

"You've always thought you had the best marriage. You and Kyle never argue, never keep secrets from each other, never even disagree. You've _always_ thought that you were better, that you were the only one who knew how to _properly _raise a family."

"How dare you?" Paige hissed, jumping to her feet. "How dare you!"

"Don't talk to my wife like that," Kyle snapped.

"It's true, isn't it?" Piper added coldly, her brown eyes blazing with fury. "You're always butting in and giving advice when it isn't wanted and judging us on everything we do. What do you know about what we've had to go through? It wasn't _your_ son that died."

"Mom," Wyatt said, moving towards his mother quickly. "Just calm down, okay? Don't say something you are going to regret." He was still furious at her, but he knew that things were about to spiral rapidly out of control.

"Calm down? Chris is somewhere out there, alone and hurt!" Piper screeched at him. "Don't tell me to calm down!"

Wyatt stepped back, shocked by her anger, and faltered, unsure of what to say. Then Leo appeared at his son's and whispered, "Why don't you go check on your cousins? They are downstairs." Wyatt nodded dumbly and left the room. His exit went unnoticed by the feuding sisters and their husbands.

"Look," Kyle interrupted quickly, "I don't think Chris is in any danger at the moment. He is probably just sitting around with Bianca watching the sailboats or something." He turned to Leo and continued, "I think we should focus on the dark-lighters for now."

"I agree," Phoebe added. "They did almost kill two of us." In her mind's eye she could still see her daughter lying on the floor, covered with blood.

"We vanquished them," Piper replied pointedly.

_Piper just doesn't care about Prue. She erased your daughter's memory in order to keep her own sons safe, and she didn't even consult you!_

Phoebe stiffened and glared at Piper. "In case you haven't noticed, Piper, you aren't the only one here who almost lost a child!" She began to pace the floor angrily, her narrowed eyes focused solely on her older sister. "There are other people in this family who are in danger. But you don't care about that, do you?"

"Of course I care about Prue," Piper spat.

"Really? Is that why you decided to erase her memory without even telling me?" Phoebe asked malevolently.

"Hey, I'm not the only one keeping secrets from my family," Piper shot back, jumping to her feet. "At least my husband isn't thinking of _divorcing_ me!"

"Guys, maybe we should…" Paige cut in, but both her sisters spun around and scowled at her.

"Stay out of this, Paige!" they snarled in unison.

_Your sisters don't care about what you think. You always have been, and always will be, the replacement for Prue._

"No, I'm not going to just stay out of this," Paige shot back, getting in between the two sisters. "I am tired of being the odd sister out! I'm tired of having you act like all I am is a magical replacement for Prue!"

"Guys, stop it!" Leo cried, stepping in between the fighting sisters. "Just stop it, this isn't getting us anywhere."

Piper turned around and blew him up without even pausing. Then she turned back and continued yelling at her sisters, all her fear and worry coming out. The shouts grew so loud that actual words could not be distinguished above the din.

In her anger, Phoebe reached out to grab Piper's arm. The moment her hand made contact with the material of Piper's shirt, however, she was thrown into a premonition. She gasped in shock at the power of the premonition and fell to the floor.

_Chris and Bianca were sitting on the sofa in an apartment. Chris turned and looked at Bianca, his eyes bloodshot and swollen. "Just let me stay here. In silence," he asked, then got up and walked away from her, over to the window. Staring out through the glass, he watched as a few boats made their way up the coast._

"_Sure," Bianca answered gently. "You can stay here for as long as you want."_

"Phoebe, what did you see?"

Phoebe opened her eyes and glanced up at sisters, who had stopped arguing long enough to find out about the premonition. Kyle was standing behind them, and Leo, who had apparently reformed, was kneeling next to her.

"Uh…Chris…at an apartment. With Bianca. He was staring at the beach, and…asked Bianca if she could just stay there for a while. And she said yes," Phoebe replied, closing her eyes and trying to visualize the scene again. "But I don't know where the apartment is." She looked up at Piper. "Sorry."

"Maybe you only got the premonition so that we would know that Chris is being taken care of," Kyle suggested.

"I don't care, I am going to find him," Piper snapped. She turned and walked over to the Book.

Paige helped Phoebe stand up, then glanced over at Piper in irritation. "Come on, Phoebe got a premonition that said Chris is okay right now. What more do you want?"

"I want my son," Piper answered. She flipped through the pages of the Book, knowing there was nothing there to help her. She had been through it all already, and she had come up blank. But she needed to find Chris, and all she had to go on right now was a premonition of Chris staring at a beach…Wait!

Piper turned to Kyle, her eyes narrowing in anger. "How did you know that Chris was close enough to the ocean to _see_ sail boats?"

* * *

The demon flamed into the cave and said, "I really should have thought to pick up the powers of astral projection and planting premonitions a long time ago. It certainly comes in handy." 

"Doesn't it?" the Seer agreed, her eyes still focused on the water of her pool. She watched the witches, the white-lighter, and the Elder glower at each other.

The demon stepped up next to the Seer, and peered into the pool. He licked his lips and smirked. "And let the fireworks fly."

* * *

"You said Chris was probably just sitting around watching sailboats. How did you know?" Piper pressed, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

"I didn't mean it literally," Kyle replied vaguely, shrugging.

"Because not all of San Francisco is close to the beach," Piper accused, taking a threatening step towards her brother-in-law. "In fact, most of it isn't on the coast. Do you know where Chris is?"

"Piper!" Paige admonished angrily.

"Of course not," Kyle answered at the same time. He folded his arms over his chest and glared at his sister-in-law. How dare she accuse him of that?

"Then why did you say that Chris would be watching sail boats?" Piper hissed. "Seems like a pretty big coincidence if you ask me."

And then Phoebe's empathy suddenly kicked in, and she gasped, horrified. "You do know!" she said, turning to Kyle. "You've known all this time and you didn't tell us?"

"I didn't…" Kyle began, but seeing the look on Phoebe's face faltered. "I…uh…"

"You knew?" Paige asked quietly, her eyes wide with disbelief. "You knew and you didn't tell us? You didn't tell _me_?" She got up and began pacing restlessly. "How did you know?"

Kyle swallowed and looked at each of the angry faces scowling back at him. "The Elders," he explained quietly. "The Phoenixes are the most elite assassins in the entire magical community. The Elders like to keep informed about the activities of the clan. When they found out that Bianca had decided to opt out of her family heritage, the Elders started keeping a more active eye on her. They figured she could be an asset to our side."

"They never told me any of this," Leo said, outraged.

They thought it was best to keep it from you," Kyle admitted reluctantly. "You weren't… _aren't_ looking at the situation with a clear head. The Elders were worried you would do something rash. Like try to vanquish Bianca."

"Why do they care about one witch? Even an elite one?" Phoebe asked bitterly. "They didn't do anything to keep Prue or Grams or Mom from being vanquished."

"That isn't true, and you know it," Kyle replied angrily. "They did everything they could, but sometimes people are just destined to die on a certain day!" He folded his arms and glared at the family. "Anyway, Bianca isn't just one witch."

"What do you mean?" Paige asked softly. Despite her anger that Kyle had lied to her, she agreed with him that neither Piper nor Leo were looking at the circumstances with an impartial view, and they were likely to do something rash.

"Bianca may not be an assassin, but she is still a Phoenix," Kyle explained patiently. "If you vanquish her, the Phoenix clan will come after you. All of them. Do you have any idea how much damage they could do? The Power of Three won't save you against a clan of thousands of witches that just keeps coming and coming and coming…"

"That isn't a decision you get to make," Piper snarled back. "This is my son's life, and it should be my decision."

"Actually, this is your son's life and it should be _his_ decision," Kyle shot back.

Paige frowned and nodded, agreeing with Kyle. "He is right, Piper. Just because he knew where Chris was, doesn't mean that the premonition Phoebe got wasn't valid. I think we should leave Chris alone for now. He needs time to deal with everything he just found out."

"Oh, please, you're just upset because you suddenly realized your marriage isn't perfect, and because Wyatt is mad that you didn't tell him the truth," Phoebe snapped at Paige. "You aren't the 'cool Aunt' and you don't have the 'perfect husband' anymore."

"Shut up!" Paige hissed, her face flushing crimson as Phoebe's words hit a nerve.

"If the Elders have been keeping tabs on Bianca since she decided not to be an assassin, does that mean that they knew all along that Chris and Bianca were dating?" Leo asked suddenly.

Kyle shrugged, annoyed, and said, "Probably. I wasn't informed of the situation until a few days ago, just after Chris had his sort-of premonition of proposing to Bainca."

Paige stared at Kyle for a moment, then said, "That night at dinner... You told me that the Elders gave you a new charge, but I thought that there was something off about the way you said it. Like it wasn't quite the truth...That's when they told you, isn't it? And you lied to me!"

Kyle bit his lip helplessly and replied, "The Elders swore me to secrecy."

"I can't believe they would keep something like this from me!" Leo cried, now even more outraged.

"Yeah, because the Elders are perfect," Piper replied, rolling her eyes in sarcasm. She glared at Leo and said, "Why don't you go up there and find out where Bianca lives? Or better yet, take me up there and I'll find out where she lives."

"God, Piper, stop it!" Paige snapped. "Just leave Chris alone!"

"Don't tell me what to do with my son!" Piper shot back, her face flushed with anger. She spun on Leo. "Take me up there, now!" She held out her hand, waiting for Leo to take it. When he hesitated, she continued, "Come on, don't you want to find Chris?"

"Why would I?" Leo demanded. "I'm the father who only cares about my son this time around because I realized how much of a screw I was before!" He turned away from Piper and said, "That's what you've always thought of me, right?" Without another word, he orbed away.

Paige and Kyle both backed away from Piper. "We aren't taking you either," Paige said quickly.

Kyle nodded and agreed with his wife. "Paige is right. Now, why don't you try and calm down and then we can…"

Piper flicked her wrists, attempting to blow Kyle up, but Paige shoved him out of the way. The vase on the table behind her shattered, and glass littered the already destroyed attic floor. Piper raised her hands at Kyle and said in a threatening voice, "Where is my son?"

Kyle decided to orb away, leaving the three angry sisters alone in the room.

"_Don't_ do that to Kyle ever again," Paige hissed, using her power to orb the broken lamp at Piper.

"Why not?" Piper demanded, freezing the shards of glass in midair. After a moment, the glass fell to the ground, and Piper continued to glare at her sister. "He's keeping me away from my son."

"Actually, it was really you who pushed your son away," Phoebe said maliciously, entering the argument. "You can't blame Kyle for that."

"Are you calling me a bad mother?" Piper demanded.

"You called me a bad wife, you called Leo a bad father, you called Paige a bad sister…" Phoebe replied angrily. "Maybe it is time someone pointed out what you are!"

Piper blew up the table behind Phoebe, and she jumped away, surprised. Angrily, the empath grabbed a potion bottle from the cabinet behind her and hurled it at Piper. Piper froze it mid air and knocked it to the ground. In the process, she accidentally knocked the Book of its podium. It fell to the floor with a thump.

Paige orbed out of the room, and Phoebe pushed past Piper and disappeared down the stairs. Piper watched them go, then slammed her fist into the wall in frustration. She turned and grabbed the Book from the floor, placing it back on the podium, then she too stalked away, slamming the attic door behind her.

In their anger and fury, none of the sisters had noticed the now broken triqueta on the cover of the Book.

* * *

Next Chapter: Charmed...Or Not 

Due: Tuesday 11/29


	10. Charmed, Or Not

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's Note: First, I finished this chapter earlier than expected, do I am updating now instead of Tuesday. Second, there have been a lot of comments about who people think the demon is, so I figured I should tell you all that I am not revealing the identity for a while. You are all more than welcome to make guesses, in fact, I would be interested to see who you think it is, but I'm not even going to tell you whether it is a new demon or someone we've seen on the show before. Third, for the sake of my story, the sisters don't have powers, but they can still throw potions and say spells like an ordinary witch.

Re: Mellaithwen: Thanks for the review. I'm glad you liked the fighting, I had a lot of trouble writing that part. I kept reworking it to try and get it right... I edit way too much.

Re: Chris J: Unfortunately, if somone were to shoot Piper, it would create problems for the rest of the story. She sort of has a role to play. Otherwise I might consider it. Although, in her defense, she saw her son die once, and now she might have lost him again. She's got a reason to be a little upset, even if she is going about it the wrong way. Plus, with the demon manipulating her feelings...

Re: CharmedOne24: Thanks for the review, I'm glad you like it. Yes, the emotions got a little out of control. As for who the demon is, see author's note above.

Re: Martina: The side effects of the Power of Three being broken will be seen throughout the rest of the story. Yes, it will affect their offspring in many ways, but that might not become clear for a while. Things in my story take a while to develop. Also, for the sake of story, I am pretending that the Charmed Ones have never used their powers against each other at all in the past twenty-odd years, so they weren't really thinking clearly. It was all heat of the moment...

Re: Sparkling Cherries: I'm glad you are feeling somewhat sympathetic towards Piper. I really am trying to show that she was just trying to protect her son. Her fears for Chris will come out even more in the next few chapters. I'm flattered that my story is driving you insane, but please try to retain some form of sanity so that you will be able to read the next chapters. Hopefully some of the bigger questions will be answered at that point, and you won't have to worry about going mad. :)

Re: Kitty-Witty-Kate: Thanks for the reivew, I'm glad you like the story.

Re: akemi : Yes, everything just sort of came out. I had envisioned it as though all the problems were stoppered, and some had just pulled the plug (like the cork on a champagne bottle), and everything just came spewing out. This is why it is not a good idea to bottle things up inside.

Re: NothingButSarah: It is going to take a really long time to work through all the issues because these are problems that have been festering for a while. And some things, once they are said, can't be taken back, even if you want to...

Re: maggie0: Thanks for the review. Piper is doing what she thinks is best for Chris, even if she was wrong, and Phoebe is trying to keep her husband said, even if she is wrong as well. Both have legitimate concerns about the safety of the people they love, they are just going about everything the wrong way. The wrong thing for the right reasons... Also, I'm not sure if you know this, but 'divide and conquer' is a military term. It refers to the tactic of turning people or countries against each other and then conquering them once they have no support. So the title refered to what the demon and the Seer were doing, first dividing the Halliwells, then conquering them by manipulating them into losing their powers.

Re: JustY: I'm glad you like Chris/Bianca, there are not may people who do. As for slapping Piper, she is just trying to do what she thinks is best for Chris... And she will see the error of her ways eventually.

Re: crazyDFFgang: Thanks for the review, I'm glad you liked it.

Re: bunn2007: Piper isn't blind, she is just a mother who already lived through her son's death once. And the demon was playing with her emotions. The issues with her sisters and Leo were already there, but the demon sent everything spinning out of control. (I really like Power Outage when I watched it, so wanted to bring some of that into this story.)

Re: Karone Evertree: I'm impressed you picked up on the line about Kyle and Bianca, I wasn't sure if people would. More will be said about that in a later chapter, but for now, it isn't important. Just keep it in mind for later... Phoebe and Jason are going to have a heart to heart at some point, and in the next couple chapters I am going to elaborate more on the state of their marriage, so you will get to see Phoebe's point-of-view a bit more. She really just doesn't want Jason to die.

Re: Anamalia-fear: Thanks for the review. Unfortunately, I have to warn you that there will not be any Chris in this chapter, or in the one after it. He is taking a brief respite at Bianca's apartment, but he will be back soon, don't worry. :) This is a Chris centered story.

* * *

Chapter Nine: Charmed...Or Not

Phoebe sat in an armchair by the fire, staring at the door. Two hours had passed since the argument, and Jason had still not returned home yet. Phoebe and Prue had called a taxi to take them home because Phoebe had refused to talk to her sisters or brothers-in-law. The minute they had returned home, Phoebe had told Prue to go back to bed, refusing to tell her what the fuss tonight had been about.

The sun was slowly rising over the distant hills, turning the earth a brilliant red. The clock struck six.

"Mom?"

Phoebe turned to see Prue standing on the stairs, staring at her in concern. "Hey, sweetie," she said quietly. "What are you doing up? I thought I sent you to bed?"

Prue glanced at Phoebe, noting that she had not moved at all in the last two hours and replied, "I was about to ask you the same thing." She walked over to the sofa and sat down on the arm. "Is everything okay? Why are you staring at the door?"

"Your father hasn't come home yet," Phoebe replied, trying in vain to push away her worry. She turned and glanced back at the door.

"Why did he leave the Manor?" Prue asked, dreading the answer. She remembered quite vividly the furious look on her father's face as he had stormed past her and her two cousins and out of the hall. Then they had heard the shouts from the attic. Then Wyatt had orbed in, red-rimmed eyes and pale skin betraying his apprehension. But he too had refused to tell them anything, and Prue, Mel, and Pen had been left alone in the sunroom of the Manor to wonder what was going on.

Phoebe rubbed her eyes and replied vaguely, "We got into an argument."

Prue accepted the statement and changed subjects. "What happened to Chris?"

Phoebe stood up and began to pace. "How much do you already know?" she asked, eyeing her daughter.

Prue shrugged and said, "A little."

Phoebe nodded and said, "Well, he drank a memory restoration potion, told Piper and Leo he never wanted to see them again, and then ran off with Bianca. Piper was a little upset." She wrung her hands worriedly, and took another quick glance at the clock.

"Memory restoration?" Prue asked. "Did someone erase his memory too?"

Phoebe shot a dark look at her daughter and said, "I heard about that. So Piper really did cast a spell on you?"

Prue nodded slowly, still trying to understand what her mother had told her. "Did Aunt Piper erase Chris' memory?"

"No…" Phoebe took a deep breath, then gave Prue a quick run down of the other Chris, and what had happened when he came to the past, leaving out the exact reason _why_ Chris had come to the past. And ignoring the part where the family had been cruel and unkind to Chris for the first several months.

"Wait, so this other Chris died?" Prue asked wearily. Why did this family have to be so complicated? "Is that why Aunt Piper is so overprotective of Chris?"

Phoebe swallowed and looked away. "Do you have any idea what it is like to see someone you love die?" She bit her lip and thought back to Prue, Cole, and Chris. And Grams. And her mom. And Andy.

Prue folded her arms across her chest and asked, "Why didn't Aunt Piper just tell Chris the truth? She didn't want him to fight because she didn't want him to die again."

"Would it have stopped Chris from trying to fight with us?" Phoebe replied pointedly. She took a seat next to her daughter again and closed her eyes for a moment. She knew the real reason that Piper had not told Chris was because she didn't want him to know that he had died, and Wyatt to know that he had been evil. In Piper's eyes, it was a failure on her part; in that timeline, she had been unable to protect both her sons.

Prue stared at her mother, a slight frown on her face. She had the distinct feeling that there was more to Chris' trip to the past then what she had been told. Before she could ask, however, Phoebe was talking again.

"But it's alright. We'll find Chris, and your father and I will talk, and this will all blow over."

Prue looked at her mother for a long moment, then said, "No, Mom, it won't blow over. Even I know that."

Phoebe looked up, startled, and said, "Is that what you truly think?"

Prue was silent for a moment, then said, "Honestly? Lately you and Dad have been arguing all the time. It's like we aren't even a family anymore. Not the way we were before." She pursed her lips and thought for a moment, then added, "But the whole family has been like that. I mean, Chris not telling me and Wyatt about Bianca for two whole years, Aunt Piper erasing my memory, Dad bailing on that family dinner…we just don't seem like a family."

Phoebe was silent, then she swallowed and said, "Your father wants to participate in magic. It is just too dangerous for him. I just want to keep him safe." She didn't know why she felt the need to justify this to Prue, but she said it, hoping her daughter would understand.

"Mom…" Prue got up and started pacing. "I just don't know. Everything is so complicated right now…" She turned and faced her mother. "I just feel like somewhere along the way we've crossed a line, and we can't go back."

Phoebe and Prue both turned suddenly at the sound of footsteps on the stairs. They waited in silence until the door opened, and Jason entered the room. There was an awkward pause as the three of them gazed at each other, then Jason dropped his coat on the sofa and said wearily, "I'm going to bed." He walked past the two women and disappeared down the hallway towards his bedroom.

Prue nodded slowly, not missing the look of hurt that had flashed through Phoebe's eyes as Jason walked stonily by. She turned to her mother, said quietly, "And I don't think this will all just solve itself with time," then she too walked away.

* * *

Mel grabbed a bagel from the table and walked passed her mom towards the living room. She dropped onto the sofa next to Pen and said, "I hate school days." 

"Mm," Pen agreed as she bit into her slice of toast. "I hate the fact that Uncle Leo is our principle and Mom teaches some of the classes."

"Seriously. Why can't we go to normal people's school?" Mel nodded. She chewed her bagel for a moment, then turned to Pen and said, "Although from what I hear from Chris and Prue, normal people school wasn't that great."

Pen glanced up at her mother entered the living room. She frowned slightly, noting the dark circles under her mother's eyes. A moment later, her father entered the room, his face creased with worry and fear. He looked over at Paige and opened his mouth to say something, but she just shot him an angry glare and stalked out of the room.

Something was wrong.

Mel noticed it as well, and sent a questioning side-long look at Pen. "Any idea what last night was all about?"

Pen shrugged and whispered, "We can ask Wy, Chris, or Prue what happened."

Mel nodded and went back to eating her bagel.

* * *

Leo sat cross-legged on the top of the Golden Gate Bridge, letting the wind whip through his hair. It was cold, freezing, but he didn't notice. He stared blankly out into the distance, thinking over everything that had happened the night before. 

_You shouldn't have saved that picture. None of this would have happened if you had just listened to me when I said I wanted to destroy all the evidence._

Was Piper right? Was this all his fault? If he hadn't kept the picture, Prue never would have found it. She wouldn't have shown it to Wyatt and Chris.

Logically, Leo knew the truth would come out some other way. Chris had met Bianca, and had learned the truth from the Phoenix witch and her mother. The picture might have prompted him to ask more questions, but it wasn't what revealed the truth to him.

But the logic was finding trouble making its way to his heart. His son was out there somewhere, upset, hurt, probably confused and scared. And in his heart, he couldn't help but blame himself for it. He had failed his son again. He had promised the other Chris he would be a better father, and he had broken that promise…

_Oh, now he is your son. Now that you realized how much of a screw up you were in the past life._

How could Piper say that to him? It hurt to hear the bitter words from her mouth. But it was the truth, wasn't it? He had been a screw up, so much that the other Chris couldn't even _look_ at him for the first several months. And now Chris had memories of his other life, of how much of a failure he was.

How was he supposed to face his son? How was he supposed to face his wife? How was he supposed to face himself?

"Dad?"

Leo spun around in surprise and smiled sadly at his oldest son. "Hey, Wy," he said.

Wyatt walked over to Leo and took a seat next to him. "Mom is going crazy. She's making every vanquishing potion in the world. And muttering something about killing the traitorous tramp."

Leo frowned and said, "She must be planning on going after Bianca."

"That's a bad idea," Wyatt said quietly, thinking back to Chris' outburst. He hadn't even spoken to his brother since then, except for the brief conversation right after Chris had gotten his memory back. But he remembered how angry Chris had been when he insulted Bianca.

"Your mother is very set on it. She doesn't really like Bianca," Leo explained. "And neither do I," he muttered under his breath.

Wyatt smiled slightly. "Yeah, I didn't like her either. But Chris does. He blew up at me when I told him that I thought she was evil."

Leo looked at Wyatt, surprised. "Chris blew up and _you_? Before he got his memories of the other life?"

"Yeah…" Wyatt's eyes darkened slightly as he thought back to what he had learned about the other timeline. "I was really evil?" he repeated. despite everything he had heard, the truth was still difficult for him to comprehend. How could he have been evil? How could he have been so cruel to his family? To his brother?

"No!" Leo said quickly. He placed his hand on Wyatt's shoulder and said, "I told you, Wyatt. You were turned by Gideon. It wasn't your fault. We saved you." He hesitated, then amended his last statement. "_Chris_ saved you."

"But I killed so many people," Wyatt whispered. "And Chris said…he said he didn't want me to kill Bianca _again_. Does that mean…?"

Leo looked at his Twice Blessed son sadly. "I don't know what exactly happened. Just that Bianca was killed."

Wyatt nodded, accepting the words at face value. "How did you even know Bianca? I thought only Chris went back in time?"

Leo rubbed his eyes and wearily told Wyatt the story. "Bianca came back and stripped Chris' powers and took him to the future. At the time, Chris said it was because the evil from the future would kill him if he didn't go back with her."

"The evil…that would be me?" Wyatt asked quietly, knowing the answer, but needing to hear it all the same. He wouldn't believe it if he didn't hear it from his father. He couldn't believe that he would be capable of killing, or even threatening to kill, Chris.

But when Leo's answer came, it was simplicity in itself. "Yes." He looked away and continued, "Like I said, we don't know what happened in the future. I think Bianca helped Chris escape, and she ended up dying in the process."

"Why would Bianca take Chris to the future just to help him escape?" Wyatt asked. Then realization dawned. "I tried to kill him, didn't I? I didn't keep my promise, and Bianca had to save him from me."

"I don't know," Leo answered quietly. But both he and Wyatt knew that that was most likely what had happened.

Wyatt shivered against the wind, suddenly cold. All he was wearing was a thin tee shirt and jeans. He wrapped his arms around himself and stared out at the rising sun, wishing he could talk to Chris. Wishing that he could help his little brother deal with whatever he was going through right now.

Chris, who _always_ came to his big brother for help, was currently hiding from the entire family. Piper wasn't speaking to Phoebe, Paige, or Leo, and was currently trying to figure out a way to vanquish her son's girlfriend…or fiancée. Paige and Kyle were arguing with each other, which had never really happened before. Phoebe was at loggerheads with Jason, and Prue was preparing the end of her parent's marriage. Even Pen and Mel had been keeping secrets from their parents.

Wyatt and Leo sat silently side by side, each one thinking exactly the same thing.

What was happening to this family?

* * *

The door to the apartment flew open and smashed into the wall, bouncing back. The crash echoed through the previously silent room. The blonde Phoenix barely looked up from the book she was reading, but she said quietly, "What took you so long, Piper? I was expecting you to come by much earlier than this." 

"Where's my son?" Piper demanded harshly, finger the vanquishing potion bottle concealed in her pocket. She strode into the room, quivering with anger.

Lynn stood up and placed the book on the coffee table. She smiled at Piper and said, "Well, that is the question of the hour, isn't it?" Yawning slightly, she remarked, "You might want to rethink the whole vanquishing me plan. Since I do happen to be the one who knows where Chris is…"

Piper glowered at Lynn and repeated, "Where is my son?"

Lynn shrugged and said, "My guess is that he is at Bianca's apartment. But I'm not really sure about that."

"Lynn…" Piper warned.

"Oh, you remembered my name," Lynn gushed, her voice filled with mocking happiness. "I'm _touched_."

"Tell me where…"

Lynn cut Piper off with a glare and asked, "Give me one good reason why I should tell you anything? So you can vanquish my daughter?"

"I'll find her and vanquish her with or without your help," Piper spat.

"Oh, well, that really makes me want to help you now," Lynn replied sarcastically. She folded her arms over her chest and asked, "Did it ever occur to you that my daughter had nothing to do with this? Chris drank that potion on his own."

"Yeah, sure,' Piper snarled. "And she didn't ask Chris to keep their relationship a secret from us for two years?" She lifted her hands and prepared to blow Lynn up.

"You know that won't work," Lynn said. "I'll just reform. And blowing me up is going to make me feel anymore inclined to help you." However, she eyed Piper's outstretched hands somewhat apprehensively. She might be able to reform, but being blown up still hurt.

"I just want my son back," Piper said in a voice of forced calm. Her tone was tinged with fear and worry.

Lynn hesitated, her scathing comment frozen on her lips after hearing the pain in Piper's voice. "I'm sure Chris will come back in time," she said, opting for a less hurtful remark.

Piper looked at Lynn and shook her head. "No, not 'in time.' He's going to come back _now_, because you are going to tell me where Bianca lives."

"So you can go and drag him home?" Lynn shot back. "Exclude him from magic and make him feel left out _again_?" She shook her head and replied, "Sorry, Piper. Not going to happen."

"Why not?" Piper demanded. "Do you even care what happens to him?"

Lynn looked at Piper for a long time, her expression unreadable. Then she shrugged and said honestly, "I care about him as much as you care about Bianca." Her voice hardened and she continued, "And I am not going to tell you were my daughter lives, because I am guessing that vanquishing potion in your pocket is meant for her…"

Piper reached into her pocket and pulled out the vanquishing potion. She stared at the bottle for a moment, contemplating the dark green liquid inside. "I just want my son back," she said again, quietly. The anger that she felt when she first walked into the apartment had mostly disappeared, now to be replaced with fear and despair. What if Chris never came back?

Lynn turned her back on Piper and walked over to the window. She stared out at the sky and said, "You should go. I'm not telling you what you want to know, so you have no reason to stay here."

Piper glared at Lynn's turned back, and suddenly threw the potion. Lynn spun around and conjured an energy ball, throwing it through the air and incinerating the potions bottle before it could hit her.

"What exactly do you hope to gain by vanquishing me?" Lynn asked coldly, conjuring another energy ball. "It still won't help you find my daughter or your son." She nodded towards the door and said threateningly, "Go."

"Where is my son!" Piper screeched. "Just tell me where he is!"

"No," Lynn said again. She narrowed her eyes at Piper. "You lost him. You forced him away from your family. You pushed him out of magic. You tried to control his life. Now you have to deal with the consequences of it."

"I kept him safe!"

"You made him miserable," Lynn countered. "Not to mention he makes a pretty lousy witch. That memory restoration potion only returned half his memories. What kind of witch can't even make a proper potion?" Lynn asked, purposely goading the eldest Charmed One.

Piper flicked her wrists, but, to both her and Lynn's shock, nothing happened. Piper frowned and tried again, and again her powers did not work. She stared at her hands uncomprehending, until the truth suddenly settled on her in a sudden flash of clarity.

The fight. They used their powers against each other. She hadn't thought anything of it, but now… They had been Charmed for over twenty years, how could they be so stupid?

* * *

Next Chapter: Guilt 

Due: Thursday 12/2


	11. Guilt

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: Sorry guys, no Chris in this chapter either. But I promise he will be in the next one. Lots of angsty Wyatt moments in this one, though. I had this chapter scheduled to be done on Thurs. Dec 2. Imagine my surprise to find out that today is actually Dec. 1 :)

Re: Sparkling Cherries: Okay, okay, I'm updating! Geez! Impatient, much?. :) I am quite flattered you like the story so much.

Re: Calen: Thanks for the review. By the way, Lynn is still an assassin, it is only Bianca who has reformed. But an assassin, even a very elite one, would not want to start a feud with the Charmed Ones. Especially when her daughter is dating one of their sons...

Re: NothingButSarah: About Chris, see Author's note above (sorry). Things are very tangled right now, aren't they? But they'll start getting untangled in this chapter.

Re: pitaC89: Thanks for the review, the general consensus does seem to be that it was good Piper got told off. She will be thinking more clearly from now on.

Re: akemi: I'm glad you liked Piper and Lynn arguing. It was difficult to write, because I couldn't figure out whether or not I wanted to make them actually fight (with powers and potions). Or, at least, Lynn fight with powers and Piper panic when she realizes hers are gone... But in the end I went for just a verbal argument with a little bit off magic involved. Things will start to get better for the Halliwells in this chapter, but it will be a _very _long road to recovery. And some things might not get better...

Re: JadeAlmasy: Thanks for the review. Nobody is really thinking clearly right now, hence the fighting and stuff. I agree with you about Phoebe, she has had quite a bit of heartbreak in her life. But I also don't think she was ever really the marrying type, and that is part of the problem. I'm glad you like Wyatt, I was really trying to make him a good older brother (he's actually based on my own older brother). As for Piper and Leo...all marriages have their problems, even ones between an angel and a witch.

Re: crazyDFFgang: Thanks for the review, I'm glad you liked Piper. I rewrote that scene many times trying to get her character right. She is one of my favorites to write.

* * *

Chapter Ten: Guilt

"Leo?" A young blonde witch tapped her fingers on Leo's desk impatiently and glared at the Elder. "Are you with me at all, or am I just talking to hear my own voice?"

"Sorry, Trisha," Leo replied somberly, turning his attention towards the witch. He was sitting in his office in Magic School, trying to concentrate on what he was supposed to be doing (although he was a little unsure about what exactly that was), but all he could think about was Chris. "I'm just having some…issues…at the moment. What were you saying?"

Concern leapt into Trisha's eyes. "Everything alright?" the blonde asked worriedly. She knew that issues for Leo often meant that the Underworld was rising, or good witches were being murdered, or someone was hunting fairies…

"No," Leo said heavily. "No, it really isn't."

"You should go home," Trisha suggested. "Someone here can cover for you."

Leo shook his head. "Thanks, but I can't. I already told Paige I'd cover her classes today because she was a little upset. We're having…family problems. Besides, until we find Chris, there isn't anything I can do, and I need to do something while I'm waiting. I can't just sit and do nothing." He pushed himself out of his chair and began to pace in agitation. "I was never good at waiting."

"Find Chris? He's missing?" Trisha asked, her blue eyes widening as she grew more alarmed by the moment.

"Long story," Leo answered, and Trisha knew that meant he didn't want to talk about what happened.

"Alright, but the minute you need to be somewhere else, you let us know," Trisha said seriously. "We'll cover for you."

"Thanks," Leo replied gratefully. "Now, what were you saying?"

Trisha opened her mouth to respond, when the door flew open and a white-lighter entered. "Leo, Trisha, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I need to talk to you," the white-lighter said, addressing Leo.

"What is it, Thomas?" Leo asked wearily. Why did the problems just keep coming?

"Mel and Pen didn't show up to my class. I tried to find Paige to see if she knew, but the other teachers in the staff room said that she had gone home for the day and you were covering her classes."

Leo rubbed his already exhausted eyes and sighed in frustration. "Pen and Mel probably orbed home. I'll get them and bring them back."

"Okay, but can we briefly talk about my problem?" Trisha cut in quickly. "It will only take a moment."

Leo turned to her and nodded. "Hold on a second," he requested, then glanced up at the ceiling. "Paige, your daughters have gone and disappeared on us. Can you bring them back, please?" he called. A moment later he heard a jingle, telling him that Paige had received his request.

"Helps to have white-lighters in the family, doesn't it?" Thomas commented. "You can communicate without actually having to see each other." He grinned at Leo and continued, "And since I find half the people I have to work with insufferable snobs, it is nice to be able to avoid face to face contact." He turned and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him. Trisha and Leo smiled slightly, each knowing how much Thomas disliked the Elders he worked with.

Leo watched the other white-lighter go, frowning slightly. It was nice to be able to communicate Paige, Kyle, Mel, Pen, and his sons without having to actually orb to where ever they were. But he had also grown to rely on the fact that he could always sense for his family if he needed to, and now that he wasn't able to sense for Chris…

"Leo?" Trisha asked. "Are you sure you don't want to go home?" She could see by the look on his face that he was having trouble thinking about anything expect this problem, whatever it was.

"No. No, I need to stay here and work," Leo said determinedly. "I need to be doing something, not dwelling on everything that went wrong." He turned and looked at Trisha again. "So, what was your problem? Was it with one of your classes?"

"Yeah. Well my class is advanced conjuring, you know," Trisha explained. She hesitated, then said quickly, "And they sort of conjured a cave troll. Or three."

Leo looked at her incredulously. "And you said this problem would only take a moment?"

* * *

Wyatt stood in front of the Book, holding an athame and pricking his finger. "Blood to blood, I summon thee. Blood to blood, return to me," He intoned, watching as the blood fell into the bowl he had placed on the ground. It was surrounded by several candles, each flickering with a single flame. The spell was supposed to call a lost family member into the circle of candles. 

Nothing happened.

"Wy?" Prue asked, entering the attic, followed by Pen and Mel. "What is going on?"

Wyatt looked up, then glanced at the watch on his wrist. "Shouldn't you be at school?" he asked Pen and Mel.

"It's lunch," Mel explained. "We orbed back to see what is going on." She walked over to Wyatt and glanced at the page the Book was open to. "Who are you trying to summon?"

"No one, nothing," Wyatt snapped. "Go away."

Mel opened her mouth to argue, but Prue spoke up before she got the chance. "It's Chris, isn't it?"

"What's wrong with Chris?" Pen asked, glancing in between her two older cousins. When neither Prue or Wyatt answered her question, she put her hands on her hips and demanded, "What is going on!"

"Your parents didn't tell you anything?" Wyatt asked. Mel and Pen shook their heads, and Wyatt said, "Then I don't think we should tell you. And you really shouldn't orb away from school."

"Uncle Leo is the Head of the school, and Mom teaches there," Mel pointed out. "I think they will be understanding that we chose to disappear in order to deal with family issues."

"If your parents haven't talked to you about everything that is going on, then it really isn't your concern," Wyatt snapped, turning back to the Book. He didn't mean to be so blunt and rude to his cousins, but he was stressed and scared and frustrated that his brother was somewhere out there, hurting, and there was nothing he could do to help him.

"I think excluding people is what got us into this mess in the first place," Prue said softly, walking over to Wyatt and putting her hand on his arm. "Chris will be okay. We'll find him. But we really should tell Pen and Mel."

"I agree," a voice said. All eyes turned to see Paige standing there, her hands on her hips, glaring at her daughters. "But I would rather that my daughters stay at school during the day. There is plenty of time to talk about this afterwards."

"Mom…" Pen and Mel complained. "We want to know what is going on. Everyone else knows."

"And I will tell you," Paige promised, "But you need to go back to school, okay?" She walked over to her daughters and firmly lead them out of the attic. "Your father and Aunts and I need to focus on this thing with Chris, right now. We will tell you everything later."

Mel and Pen ungracefully allowed themselves to be lead from the room, but as she was leaving, Mel couldn't help but ask, "Where is Chris?"

Wyatt watched them go with haunted eyes. "That is the question of the hour, isn't it?"

Prue turned and looked at her cousin. She frowned, seeing the worry and self-loathing in Wyatt's eyes. "Come on, Wy. Don't beat yourself up about this. None of it is your fault."

"Not my fault?" Wyatt asked incredulously. "Chris went back in time because of me! He is in this entire mess because of what I did!"

Prue frowned and shook her head. "Wait, what? What do you have to do with why Chris went back to the past?"

Wyatt laughed darkly and said, "Oh, so you weren't let in on the latest family secret?" He began to pace restlessly. "Well, let me tell you, Prue. Chris went back to the past because I had turned evil."

"What?" Prue demanded, shocked that Wyatt could turn evil, shocked that Phoebe had neglected to mention that to her in their earlier conversation.

"That's right. I was evil. I killed a lot of people. I killed _Bianca_," Wyatt spat. He paused pacing long enough to use his telekinesis to send one of the candles flying through the air. "And I have tried every summoning spell, every scrying trick, everything I can think of to find Chris, and it has all failed! He doesn't want to see us."

Wyatt waved his hand again, and all of the candles, the Book, the Book's podium, and several chairs and tables went flying through the air. Prue cried out in surprise and dropped to the floor, narrowly missing being hit by a flying table leg. She covered her face with her arms to protect herself from the telekinetic onslaught. After a moment of chaos, the air stilled and the flying objects all crashed to the floor.

When Prue finally lifted her arms away and crawled to her feet, she saw that the attic had been trashed, and Wyatt was gone.

* * *

"Piper, where have you been?" Phoebe asked, concerned. She had brought Prue over to the Manor, hoping to talk to Piper. The fight from the previous night had left her upset and feeling guilty. But Piper had been out of the house when she arrived, so she had been pacing back and forth across the floor of the sunroom, waiting for her older sister to return. 

"Never mind that," Piper said quickly. "We've got bigger problems."

"I brought Prue over. I wanted to see how you were doing," Phoebe said quietly. "Last night was…"

Piper sighed, and nodded. "Yeah…" she agreed. "Last night was…"

"Bad?" Phoebe suggested, a wry grin tugging at the corners of her lips.

Piper sunk into the wicker loveseat and buried her face in her hands. "I went to talk to Lynn," she explained, her voice slightly muffled.

"And?" Phoebe prompted, taking a seat next to Piper.

Piper shrugged. "Nothing. She wouldn't tell me anything, and it isn't like I can vanquish her. No matter how much I want to…" She looked up at Phoebe and continued, "And we lost our powers."

"What?" Phoebe gasped, shocked. Her face paled as she tried to understand what Piper had just said. Just to test her sister's words, she tried to levitate. Nothing happened, and her heat plummeted.

"The fight. We used our powers against each other," Piper explained. "I let us…God, how could I be so stupid?" She looked back down at her hands, feeling guilty. How could she have let this happen? She was the eldest, the matriarch of the family. She was suppose to protect them, not instigate a fight that would put them in serious danger.

"Hey," Phoebe said gently, placing a hand on Piper's shoulder. "This isn't your fault. We all screwed up." She was the empath. She had the power to sense emotions, she should have known that there was all this baggage being carried around. She should have known how her sisters were feeling. She should have been able to deal with it all before it had erupted into a fight.

How could she have been so blind?

"I'm scared," Piper admitted softly, her voice shaking.

"Don't worry, we'll get through this," she said. "We will get our powers back, we'll find Chris, and we will bring him home."

Piper swallowed and shook her head. "That's not enough, Phoebe. What if…what if everything is…" She let the sentence drift, unable to give voice to her fears.

Phoebe stared at Piper, confused. "What if what?" she asked. "What do you mean, it isn't enough?"

Pipe sighed and said, "I just wanted to keep him alive. Keep him safe. Give him a better life than he had in the other timeline. But he's been sneaking around us and keeping secrets from us for _years_. Have I just turned him into the same guarded, secretive witch-lighter the other Chris was?"

"Of course not!" Phoebe replied, shocked that her sister would think that.

"I don't know, Phoebe…" Piper got up and shook her head, rubbing her tired eyes. "I just wanted to keep him safe, and all I did was push him away. I just…I just want my son back. Why is this so hard? Why is everything so hard for this family?"

Phoebe swallowed and looked away, the comment bringing thoughts of Jason to mind. "I wish I knew," she replied, her voice thick with emotion.

Piper shot her a sympathetic glance. "How are things with you and Jason?"

"Strained," Phoebe admitted truthfully. "I love him, and I know he loves me, but… it just isn't enough. He wants to be part of this whole magic deal, and I can't let him. I've lost too much already, and everyday that I let Prue train…it just scares me so much. The thought of putting him in danger as well…"

Piper nodded thoughtfully. "So, you are afraid that if you let Jason into the magic part of your life, it will kill him. And he is afraid that if you keep him out of magic, he will end up pushed entirely out of your life."

"Yeah, pretty much," Phoebe replied, nodding. "I guess we are both just worried that we are going to lose the other person to magic," she continued, smiling darkly at the irony of the situation.

"It will work out," Piper tried to reassure her younger sister. "You and Jason are in love. You'll work through it."

Phoebe nodded slowly. "I keep telling myself that, but apparently both Jason and Prue think I am wrong. And possibly Paige and Kyle as well."

There was a dismal silence for a moment as Piper and Phoebe contemplated the problems in their respective families. Then Piper said, "We need a plan to get our powers and Chris back."

Phoebe nodded and replied, "Plans are good." She stood up and walked towards the attic, Piper following behind her.

* * *

Prue looked around the desolated attic. She ran a hand through her hair, picturing her Aunt Piper's face when she saw the mess. Her stomach twisted into a knot. This was not going to be fun to explain. 

The door swung open, and Piper entered the room. She stopped and looked around, then glanced over at Prue. "What happened?" she asked incredulously.

"Wyatt went psycho," Prue replied. She met Piper's gaze for a moment, then looked away quickly. Even though she had her memory back now, it still bothered her to know that Piper had erased it.

"What?" Phoebe demanded as she walked into the attic. "What do you mean he went psycho?" She too looked around the room, then glanced over at Piper. "_Wyatt_ did this?"

"Yeah," Prue drawled. "Something about how he used to be evil and this is all his fault…" She turned and glowered at her mother. "Seems you forgot to mention _that_ part of the story."

Phoebe opened her mouth to defend herself, but Piper had started talking. "Okay, well, we need to find Wyatt. I can't have two missing sons and no powers."

"No powers?" Prue asked, her anger at her mother momentarily forgotten. "What do you mean? You don't have powers?"

"Your mother and Paige and I lost them," Piper said quietly. "We had a…disagreement last night." She walked over to the Book and began to flip quickly through the pages. "Phoebe, start scrying for Wyatt. Prue, honey, can you go to Magic School and get Leo? He can sense for Wyatt."

Prue shrugged, gave her mother and aunt a concerned look, and walked out of the room. Phoebe watched her daughter go, then turned and grabbed a map and a scrying crystal from the cabinet by the door.

* * *

Leo walked out of the classroom, mentally and physically drained. "If someone had told me when I took this job that I would have to deal with cave trolls, I would have turned them down," he grumbled. 

Trisha laughed and said, "Sorry, Leo. But thanks for your help." She ran a hand over her sweaty face. Dealing with the cave trolls had been harder than she thought it would be.

Paige appeared in a sudden glow of orbs. "I got Mel and Pen back to class," she said wearily. "They promise to stay put as long as we promise to tell them everything that is going on." She ran a hand through her red hair and glanced over at Trisha. "You look like hell," she commented, taking in Trisha's flushed skin and disarrayed hair. "What happened?"

"Don't ask," Trisha replied, rolling her eyes. She turned back to Leo. "I had better go before my students conjure goblins or something… Thanks again."

Leo shrugged and replied, "Any time." Then he paused and shot Trisha a quick glare. "But don't let it happen that frequently, okay?"

Trisha smiled and opened her mouth to say something, but she was cut off by the sound of pounding footsteps running. She, Paige and Leo turned to see Prue hurrying towards them, worried.

"Prue?" Leo asked quickly, panic rising in him. "What's wrong? What happened?" Oh God, had a demon attacked? Had something happened to Chris? Wyatt? Piper?

"Mom, Aunt Piper, and Aunt Paige apparently don't have powers and Wyatt's missing," Prue said bluntly, deciding not to beat around the bush.

"Wyatt's missing?" Leo demanded, scared. "What do you mean? How is he missing? What happened?" His heart raced frantically as he tried to keep himself from losing control. This could not be happening to him!

Paige, however, focused on a different part of Prue's words, and her eyebrows knit together in confusion and concern. "But I have powers," she objected. "I orbed here."

Prue looked at her Aunt in surprise and shrugged. "Aunt Piper was really certain that you didn't have powers," she replied, confused. "Something about the fight last night?" She crossed her arms over her chest. "You used your powers against each other, I guess..." Having said the words outloud, she suddenly realized the implications of what had happened. Her mother and aunts didn't have powers. They weren't Charmed.And with Chris and Wyatt missing, the dark-lighters attacking, and someone possibly organizing the Underworld, they _needed _their powers.

"But I _orbed_," Paige repeated stubbornly.

"What do you mean Wyatt is missing?" Leo cut in, still thinking solely about his son.

Trisha spoke up quickly, answering Paige's statement, "Orbing is a white-lighter power. Maybe it was just your witch powers that you lost. Have you tried using your telekinesis?"

"Prue, what is going on with Wyatt?" Leo hissed, his patience running out.

Prue didn't respond, listening instead to Paige and Trisha's conversation.

Paige glanced over at Trisha and shook her head wordlessly. She hadn't tried using her witch powers since last night. She hadn't had a reason to… She turned and looked at a picture hanging on the wall. "Picture," she called, extending her hand. When nothing happened, she tried again, calling out more frantically. Her face drained of color as she realized what this meant, and a tense silence fell over the group and three sets of eyes turned to Paige, eyeing her apprehensively. Paige swallowed and looked down at her hands. Somehow, without her witch powers, she felt incomplete. She needed them, they were a part of who she was.

At least she had her white-lighter powers.

Paige's head suddenly snapped up as a thought jumped into her mind. "I have white-lighter powers, but Piper and Phoebe…they don't have _anything_. If we get attacked, they'll be vulnerable." She ran a hand through her hair again, resisting the urge to scream in frustration and panic. "How could I let this happen to them?" she hissed. "I'm a white-lighter, I'm supposed to be the pacifist, the diplomat. I'm suppose to keep this from happening!"

"Hello, people?" Leo interupted. "My son? You know, the Twice Blessed? The one who just went _missing_? Can we talk about him?" He shook his head in disblief. Chris and Wyatt were _both _missing? How was he supposed to deal with this...? He justed wanted his sons back.

"Paige," Trisha said gently, reaching out and placing a hand on the other witch's shoulder. "This isn't your fault, you…" But the rest of her sentence was cut off as Paige lifted haunted eyes to the others and shook her head slowly.

"What have I done?"

* * *

The Seer stared at her pool, her eyes filled with worry. She watched as Paige paced the hall of Magic School, shame and fear evident on the witch-lighter's face. "They feel guilt," she said quietly, turning to the demon. "They will come together and make up. They will get their powers back." 

The demon shook his head. "It will take more than just guilt," he assured the Seer. "Besides, as entertaining as turning the Charmed Ones against each other is, it is only the first stage in our plan."

"True," the Seer agreed, waving her hand over the pool. The water showed an image of Piper and Phoebe standing in the destroyed attic, talking in hushed whispers. She waved her hand again, and stared at the new image that appeared. She contemplated it for a moment, then glanced over at the demon. He stepped up to the Seer and leaned over the pool, taking in the picture in the swirling water, his face fixed with a malicious smirk. The Seer watched him, thoroughly pleased with herself.

"Shall we proceed to Phase Two?"

* * *

Next Chapter: Phase Two 

Due: Sunday 12/4


	12. Phase Two

Title: The Lost Future:

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's Note: Thank you to all who reviewed. Chris is now back in the story. Also, just to remind you all, the last several chapters, from 'Memories' until 'Guilt' all took place over the course of one night and the following morning. So this chapter starts at noon the day after Chris has gotten his memories restored. I know it seems like it has been longer since there were a lot of chapters, but Chris has actually only been missing for about twelve hours.

Re: akemi: Thanks for the review. Chris is back now, so you get to see how he is doing.

Re: pitaC89: Yeah, you aren't actually supposed to like the Seer or the demon since they are evil and all...

Re: Anamalia-fear: Well, a bit about Phase Two will be revealed in this chapter (hence the title), but I do have to warn you that the whole explanation of Phase Two, as well as the Seer and demon's ultimate End Game will not be completely revealed for a while. Not until the Charmed Ones figure it out.

Re: CharmedOne24: Thanks for the review, I'm glad you like it. They will find Chris and Wyatt soon, but things still have a long way to go before they are alright again.

Re: Mallorysgirl: I'm glad you like it. Piper and Leo do have some explaining to do, don't they? Then again, pretty much everyone in the story has been keeping secrets.

Re: Sparkling Cherries: Thanks for the review. Don't worry, Chris is back now. As for Wyatt, he just took off because he was upset. He didn't really go anywhere specific. And you're right, nothing good can happen when dark-lighters are on the loose.

Re: NothingButSarah: They won't figure out what Phase Two is for a while, but they will realize that a demon is behind it relatively soon. I won't say anymore about it, though, since I don't want to give anything away.

Re: Blur727: Thanks for the review. It would be a little too easy for them to just open a phone book. Also, they don't actually know Bianca's last name. And Bianca may not necessarily be listed in the phone book anyway. And they can't find her because then my story would be too short. :)

Re: JadeAlmasy: Thanks for the review, I'm glad you like it so far.

Re: Karone Evertree: Thanks for the review. I'm sure that many people would like to have powers and go to Magic School, but the Halliwells always seem to want to be 'normal.' I guess the grass really is greener on the other side... :) As for Leo, I think he stopped being the Magic School head-person at the end of season seven after he was no longer and Elder and the sisters had faked their own deathes. But my story is AU off the middle of season seven, because Leo is still and Elder and the sisters didn't do any of that pretending-to-die thing.

* * *

Chapter Eleven: Phase Two

Chris opened his eyes slowly and sat up. He was lying on the couch of Bianca's apartment, covered in a blue crocheted blanket. Sunlight streamed in through the window, falling over his face and shoulders, as the clock on the wall struck twelve. Noon. He blinked and rubbed his eyes, yawning and stretching.

"Good morning."

Chris twisted around to see Bianca standing behind him in the doorway to the room. She was wearing a bathrobe and her dark hair was pulled back into a loose bun. Several strands escaped and fell over her face, partially obscuring her tired eyes. She was holding a bag in her right hand.

Chris got up and sighed. "Morning," he replied quietly. His limbs were sore and stiff, his eyes rimmed with huge dark circles. He ran a hand through his hair and let out a shaky breath, trying in vain not to dwell on the memories of the night before. But they kept floating back to him. His mother's face, filled with fury, as he told her what he had done. The confused look in his brother's crystal blue eyes. The worry in his father's voice.

And the memories of the other timeline.

The memories that would not disappear, no matter how hard he tried to forget.

Wyatt, evil. Piper, dead. Leo, absent. Mel and Pen, nonexistant. Prue, traitor. Bianca, good, evil, good again, dead.

Chris ckuckled inwardly at the bitter irony. When he found out that his parents and aunts had kept this huge secret from him, all he had wanted was to learn what it was, to remember the person he had been. Now that he had the memories, all he wanted was to forget them.

"I brought you some clothes," Bianca said, snapping him out of his thoughts and extending the bag. "I don't know if they'll fit, but I thought they might…"

"Thanks," Chris said gratefully, looking down at his own wrinkled pajamas. He opened the bag and pulled out the jeans and green shirt. "You keep boys clothes around the house?" he asked, surprised. "You keep boys clothes that aren't _mine_?"

Bianca laughed and shook her head. "No. I shimmered over to Matt's and asked to borrow some of his clothes. I was going to go to your house and get your own, but given your mother's disposition to me, it didn't seem like a good idea."

Chris nodded, silently agreeing, and looked down at the clothes.

"I didn't tell him," Bianca said quietly. Chris looked up at her questioningly, and she elaborated, "I didn't tell Matt about what happened."

Chris gave her a quick smile and inwardly thanked God for small favors. Bianca usually told Matt everything, and he _really_ did not want to deal with the overprotective, arrogant, elitist, snob coming and offering him sympathy and advice.

Or maybe he did…

Beating Matt up might make him feel better.

"How are you doing?" Bianca asked, cutting into his thoughts.

Chris shrugged and said, "I'm okay, I guess. Still upset." He walked past Bianca into the bathroom and shut the door behind him with a snap. Then he pulled off his pajama top off and yanked the green shirt over his head.

He was upset with Piper. Hurt. He felt betrayed. How could she keep this from him? Didn't he have a right to know what had happened? That he had risked and sacrificed everything to save the world? Didn't he have a right to know what kind of person he had been?

He pulled on the jeans and stared at his reflection in the mirror. He and Matt wore the same size.

And then there was Leo. The man who had been a wonderful father in this timeline, and a nonexistent one in the other. Was he only a good father now because he had found out how much of a screw up he was in the other future?

He splashed cold water on his face, hoping to wake up his tired skin. All he succeeded in doing was making himself wet.

And every time he looked at Wyatt, all he could see were those cold blue eyes staring back at him. _I don't need you_. He shouldn't have gotten so mad at Wyatt, he knew that. It wasn't like it was his fault, Gideon turned him. But it was hard to look in the eyes of the man who had taken so much from him, and not be angry.

He folded his pajamas and looked around the bathroom. It was decorated in dark red and blues. Everything was simple, plain. Nothing frivolous, no lace or frills, no sweet smelling soaps, no perfume bottles, no piles of makeup. He smiled to himself, thinking how different it was from the normal girls bathroom.

Then again, how many girls also kept a cupboard full of athames?

"Chris? I'm going to make scrambled eggs," Bianca's voice floated to him.

"Okay," he called back, rubbing his eyes again. He listened as the Phoenix's footsteps disappeared into the kitchen, then ran a hand through his hair and sighed. He needed to talk to his parents, his brother. He needed to work this out. He _knew_ he was being too hard on them, they only had his best interests at heart.

But when would they realize they couldn't protect him from everything?

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't see the warlock blink into the bathroom until it was too late. Until the golden ball of light had struck him directly in the back, and the world had faded to black.

* * *

Bianca broke the egg and poured it into the bowl. She yawned slowly, blinking the exhaustion away from her eyes. She had not slept well last night, but instead had spent hours thinking over everything that had happened. 

Something about it all just didn't feel right.

She was contemplating this, when her sixth sense kicked in, and the hairs on the back of her neck shot into the air. A moment later, she heard a crash from the bathroom and flew from the kitchen in panic.

She yanked the door to the bathroom open and stared in surprise and the scene that met her eyes. Chris was lying, face down, on the floor. He appeared to be unconscious. On his back, was a large burn. The rest of the room was empty.

"Mom!" Bianca cried, dropping to her knees next to Chris. "MOM!" And then, because she was scared and wanted as many people present as possible, "Matt! Laura! Stacy! Eve! John! Zach!" She frantically reeled off a list of Phoenixes as her heart began to race. Somehow, some instinct was telling her that, whatever had happened to Chris, it was bad.

She placed on a hand on Chris' shoulder and then drew it back sharply with an intake of breath. Even through the cotton of his shirt, she could feel that he was burning up.

The air around her rippled, and several people appeared at once, each holding energy balls in their hands. They paused, looking around for whatever demon they assumed was attacking. Finding nothing, they turned to Bianca, confused.

It was Lynn who realized what was going on. She hurried over to Chris, rolled him onto his back, and placed a hand on his forehead. "What happened?" she asked.

"I don't know," Bianca replied. "I was in the kitchen making scrambled eggs for us, and then I felt something, and I heard a crash, and…"

"Maybe he realized he'd rather kill himself than eat your scrambled eggs," one of the Phoenix's suggested dryly, pushing her red hair out of her eyes and smiling grimly. The comment drew a snicker from the others in the room and a sharp reprimand from Bianca.

"Stacy! Chris is hurt!"

"Who _is_ Chris?" Stacy snapped back, although she too dropped to the floor next to the wounded witch-lighter and looked at his wound with concern.

"Her boyfriend," Lynn said quietly. She looked over at Bianca and continued, "He's going to need to be healed, but I think it is more than that. Whatever this is, it isn't a normal wound." Her eyebrow knit together in concern as she peered at the gaping burn, trying to identify what it could be. Chris' skin was now slick with sweat and his dark hair was damp to the touch. His eyelids were flickering slightly, as though he was trapped in a dream and trying to escape. "Take him to the sofa, we can look at him there," Lynn ordered at last, realizing she had no idea what was wrong with the young witch-lighter.

Bianca nodded and placed a hand on Chris, shimmering the two of them out of the bathroom and into her living room. As she disappeared, she heard Stacy's disgruntled voice demand. "She's dating? When did this happen?"

The rest of the Phoenixes walked out into the living room and clustered around Chris. Bianca glanced up at Stacy and said reluctantly, "We've been dating for two years," before turning her eyes back to Chris' prone form. Her heart cleched painfully as she stared at him, and she swore inwardly, hating feeling so helpless and out of control.

"What?" That statement got a collective cry of annoyance from the others in the room. "Two years and you didn't tell us?"

Bianca hesitated, her eyes instinctively searching for Lynn as she thought briefly that now she had an idea of what it was like for Chris to try and explain their secret relationship to his brother and cousin. The older Phoenix met her daughter's gaze for a moment, then sighed, turned to the others, and said, "We kept the relationship a secret from his family as well." She ran a hand through her hair, then said, "Besides me and Bianca, no one else knew. Well, except for Matt."

And the group of Phoenix's rounded on Matt. He held his hands up in defense, his dark eyes widening in mock fear. "Please don't hurt me," he begged sarcastically. "I'm so afraid of you all."

"Stop it!" Bianca hissed. "Can't you see he's hurt?" A silence fell over the group at Bianca's panicked filled words.

Lynn placed a reassuring hand on her daughter's shoulder and said, "Take him back to his family. His father can heal him. I'll fill everyone else in while you do."

Bianca looked at her mother and nodded slowly. "Okay," she whispered. She leaned over Chris, wiping the sweat off of his forehead with the sleeve of her bathrobe and placed her hand on his chest, prepared to shimmer out.

"His father can heal him? His father's a white-lighter?" an elderly blonde-haired, brown-eyed Phoenix demanded, confused. "She's dating the son of a white-lighter?"

"Laura," Matt said slowly. "That's Christopher _Halliwell._"

The last thing Bianca saw before she shimmered away was several astounded eyes turning to look at her.

* * *

Leo paced back and forth across the floor of the attic, trying frantically to sense for his oldest son. However, the Twice Blessed Child appeared to be blocking him. 

Or he was in the Underworld.

Either way, the Elder could not sense his son, and it was starting to worry him.

"Anything?" Piper asked quietly as she walked into the attic, followed by Paige and Phoebe. The three of them were unnaturally subdued. Although they each regretted the argument from the night before, the tensions in the room where still there. Some things, once they are said, can never be taken back, no matter how hard you try.

"No," Leo answered, not even pausing to look at Piper. "Nothing." He continued pacing, and an awkward silence fell over the room. Finally, he asked, "Where is Prue?"

"She's downstairs, with Mel and Pen," Paige replied.

"Do they know what's going on?" Leo questioned, turning to Paige.

"Yes. All the main points, at any rate." It was Phoebe who spoke this time. She ran a hand through her short hair and turned back to her sisters. "We've tried scrying and sensing for both of them, and it hasn't worked. I'm running out of ideas." She walked over to the Book, prepared to look through it, while Paige slumped into a seat on the sofa. Piper nodded and resumed her pacing, and Leo closed his eyes, continuing to try to locate his wayward sons.

At that moment, the air rippled, and Bianca appeared in the center of the attic, still holding on to Chris. Paige jumped to her feet and Phoebe spun around in surprise. Piper paused in her pacing, her jaw opening as panic tore through her at the sight of Chris' burn. Leo opened his eyes, confused by the sudden noise, until he saw Bianca and Chris and his eyes went wide with shock and relief. Bianca, meanwhile, quickly looked up from the injured witch-lighter and snapped at Leo, "Heal. Now," then stepped away from Chris and waited.

Leo hurried over to Chris and knelt down, extending his hands. The golden glow appeared, and Chris' burn slowly healed. The witch-lighter groaned and rolled to his side, bringing his hands up to his head.

"Chris?" Bianca whispered, dropping to her knees next to him again, and placing her hands on Chris' shoulders as relief flooded through her. "Are you okay?"

Piper was so shocked by the sudden appearance of her youngest son, that she didn't even think of trying to vanquishing Bianca. Instead, she crouched down next to the Phoenix and stared at Chris, waiting for an answer. "Chris? Sweetie?"

Chris opened his eyes and looked up at the others in the room. His eyes landed on Bianca, and she suddenly knew that something was wrong. Very wrong.

And then Chris threw out his arm and sent the others in the room flying back against the wall. Bianca, her reflexes being the best in the room, managed to shimmer out before the telekinetic blast hit her. The others were not so lucky. Phoebe and Paige hit the far wall and fell to the floor, unconscious. Leo slammed into the sofa, but managed to stay conscious. Piper hit the potions table and winced as a sharp pain flew up her shoulder.

Chris got slowly to his feet. "Hello, Mother," he said, looking at Piper, his voice oddly devoid of emotion.

Leo had crawled over to Paige and Phoebe, quickly making sure they were okay. He extended his hands to heal them, but was stopped by the sound of Chris' voice. Something wasn't right. He spun around and stared at his youngest son in worry and fear.

"Ch-Chris?" Piper stuttered, pulling herself up and looking at her son aghast.

"Yep," Chris said, smiling a twisted smile. He looked around the room, as though trying to place exactly what had happened. He walked over to the Book of Shadows and opened it, flipping through the pages.

"Chris?" Bianca asked, stepping forward. "What happened to you?"

"Happened?" Chris laughed. "Nothing, happened, Bianca. Nothing at all." He paused and ran a hand through his hair. "Everything is just the way it is supposed to be." He ran his finger across the page of the Book, staring at the entry. He shook his head, deciding that particular demon was not the one he wanted to vanquish, and turned the page.

"Chris, you just threw your aunts, your mother, and I across the room," Leo pointed out. He took a hesitant step towards his younger son, and cast an apprehensive glance back at his two unconscious sisters-in-law. They seemed okay, albeit out cold, whereas Chris seemed to be...not okay. Sighing, Leo decided to let the two other Charmed Ones alone for a moment, and focus on his son.

Chris stared at Leo for a moment, then said in a tired and confused voice, "Dad? What's going on?" He stumbled slightly, falling to his knees. Both Bianca and Leo hurried to his side, but he shoved them away from him, his eyes flashing angrily again. "Get away from me!" he snarled, jumping to his feet. He began to pace, taking angry strides across the floor, his eyes flashing with anger.

"Chris, peanut," Piper begged, her eyes filling with tears as she hurried towards Chris. She tried to reach out for him, but he shoved her away. Another wave of pain shot up her arm, and she gasped and turned away.

It was then that Chris saw the blood on her sleeve where she had smashed into the table. "Mom? Oh, God, Mom, I'm so sorry" he cried, horrified. He tried to step towards her, but again, his knees gave out. This time the rest of him crashed to the floor as well, and he curled into a ball.

Bianca reached out and touched his skin, realizing abruptly that he was still burning up. "I thought you healed him?" she asked, turning to Leo. "Why is he still running a fever?"

"I'm fine," Chris snapped. He pushed himself to his knees and pushed Bianca away from him. "I don't need you. I don't need any of you. I'm _fine_." And then he was up on his feet and pacing again, ignoring the concerned looks his girlfriend and parents were giving him.

"What is with the Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde deal?" Piper asked Leo in an undertone. "Where did his split-personality come from?" All she received for an answer was Leo's concerned look.

And then, quite abruptly, Chris orbed out of the room.

"Chris!" Piper cried, reaching out to grab him. His orbs slipped through her fingers, and she was left clutching thin air.

Both Bianca and Piper turned to Leo, waiting with questions in their eyes. An uneasy silence fell over the room while Leo tried frantically to sense for his son. Coming up blank, he turned to Piper, worry and fear written all over his face. "I can't sense him," he admited, sagging with defeat. "I can't sense him anywhere."

Piper accepted these words calmly, then spun around on Bianca and snarled, "What did you do? How could you let him get attacked?"

Bianca stared at the enraged Charmed One for a moment, trying to understand what Piper was saying. When the words finally filtered through her worry for Chris and her fear that something bad was going to happen, when Piper's meaning finally became clear, she stiffened in defense. "I didn't _let_ him," Bianca snapped back. "It just happened!" Taking a breath to control her flaring temper, she continued in a voice of forced calm, "Right now, we need to focus on finding him, not arguing."

"We? There is no we!" Piper hissed. "Chris is my son and I will be the one to find him. Get out of my house!"

"No!" Bianca shot back, taking a threatening step towards the eldest Charmed One. "I will not leave until I know Chris is safe."

"You aren't helping any by being here," Piper snapped. "Why don't you go find some other boyfriend to stick your fist into?"

"Huh?"

Piper looked at Bianca's confused face, and it took her a moment to realize that, while Bianca knew about the other timeline from her mother, she didn't have any specific memories about it. She didn't remember stripping Chris' powers and dragging him back to the future...back to Wyatt.

"This isn't helping us find Chris," Leo cut in softly. He reached out and placed a reassuring hand on his wife's shoulder, then turned to Bianca. He regarded the Phoenix through dark eyes, and said in a gentle tone, but one that was underlined with steel, "But this is a family problem. You _should_ go."

"Make me," Bianca spat.

Piper lifted her hands, momentarily forgetting that she did not have her powers. Leo, however, reached over and grabbed her wrists, sending her a warning glare. Then he turned to Bianca and narrowed his eyes, waved a hand, and orbed the seething Phoenix out of the house.

* * *

Bianca appeared on top of the Golden Gate Bridge in a shimmer of orbs. She blinked, surprised and annoyed by Leo's actions. She prepared to shimmer back to the Manor, then paused, remembering that her mother and the others were waiting for her. She bit her lip, weighing her options. Should she go and face the raging Halliwells, or should she talk to her family first. A Phoenix's strength always came from her clan, the same way the Charmed One's power came from their bond as sisters... She needed to talk to her mother and the others. Maybe they would have an idea of what to do, how to convince Piper and Leo to let her help. 

Lynn looked up the instant Bianca shimmered into the room, took one look at her daughter's face, and demanded, "What happened?"

Bianca ran a hand through her hair and collapsed onto the sofa. She stared at all of the others, rubbed her tired eyes, and began to recount the events that had transpired in the attic of the Manor. The others listened in silence, accepting her story without comment. She could tell they were all bursting with advice, but they would wait until the very end before they said anything. "Then Leo orbed me out," she finished wearily, pausing for a response. When no one said anything, she frowned and continued, "I need to convince them to let me help."

"I don't think you should go back," Matt said the moment Bianca had finished her story.

"What a shock," Bianca muttered sarcastically, rolling her eyes at Matt. She glanced over at her mother, and was surprised to see an uncertain expression on the blonde Phoenix's face. "You agree with Matt?" she demanded, surprised.

Lynn hesitated, choosing her words carefully. "I think, given the Charmed Ones obviously unfavorable reaction to you, that they would not welcome your help."

"So?" Bianca hissed. "I can't just leave Chris. He _needs_ me."

"Bianca, we don't even know what is wrong with him," Laura pointed out calmly, her brown eyes soft as she placed a wrinkled hand on Bianca's shoulder. "Your mother and Matt are right," the aged Phoenix continued. She sent a sympathetic glance at Bianca and pressed, "How exactly do you think you can help him?"

"I'd come up with something," Bianca replied stubbornly.

Lynn reached out and placed a hand on her daughter's other shoulder. "Listen to me. The Halliwells… they are the most powerful witches in the world. And they will save Chris. But if you go there, if you keep trying to convince Piper to let you help them…all you will be is a distraction. And that won't help Chris." She drew a breath, apprehension filling her body. There was more to it than just that. She knew instinctively that something was very wrong in the Halliwell household right now. From her brief disagreement with Piper, she now knew the sisters no longer had powers, and there was probably a lot more than just that that was going wrong.

Whatever it was, it was going to get worse before it got better. She could feel it in her bones, and she did not want her daughter mixed up with all of it.

Once this was over, she and Bianca would have to have a talk with the Halliwells, would have to try and figure out exactly where they stood and how all the issues would get resolved. But not now. Not when it could very well put her daughter's life in danger.

"So you just want me to walk away?" Bianca asked angrily. "I know you don't really care about Chris, but I do, and I am not going to…"

"I care," Lynn interrupted her daughter's short, but furious, rant. At Bianca's disbelievingly look, she elaborated, "I care about you. And I know how much Chris means to you, so, by default, I care about him." She paused for a moment, then said, "I'm not asking you to ignore the fact that Chris is in trouble. I am asking you to trust that the Halliwells know what they are doing. And trust that Piper cares enough about her son that, should she need your help, she _will_ ask you for it. She won't jeopardize Chris' safety just because she dislikes you."

"But I don't trust Piper," Bianca snapped, knowing even as she said the words that they weren't true. She trusted Piper to do everything possible to save Chris…she just wondered if everything was enough. She had seen the fear that briefly washed through her mother's eyes, and she had felt that same fear today when she saw Chris get hurt. Something bad was going to happen, and she knew that everyone, the Phoenixes, the Charmed Ones, the Elders and white-lighters, even the Twice Blessed, were completely helpless to stop it.

And that terrified her.

"Then trust me," Lynn replied seriously. "This is a family issue for the Halliwells. They have a lot they are dealing with right now, and you butting in will not help any of them. Chris won't thank you for it later, but he will understand why you chose to stay away. Why you chose not to be a distraction. It will show that you have faith in the Halliwells, even when they think so little of you. It will show that you truly want to do what is best for Chris. Even Piper will respect that."

Bianca looked away, indecision on her face.

Lynn lifted her hand from Bianca's shoulder and placed it under her daughter's chin, lifting the brunette head slightly so that she and her daughter were looking eye-to-eye. "This is a family problem, let them handle it as a family. Trust me. It's for the best."

Bianca met her mother's gaze for a moment, then looked down. She was silent for a minute, then glanced at the other Phoenixes in the room. They stared back at her, their opinions evident on their faces and in their eyes; they all agreed with Lynn. "Okay," she said at last, praying that she was making the right decision, praying that her mother was correct in her assessment of the situation. "I trust you. I'll stay away until they come for me."

* * *

The sudden flurry of bright lights filled the cave, signaling the arrival of a white-lighter. The two dark-lighters exchanged a pleased glance and readied their crossbows, wondering who would be foolish enough to orb into their lair. The first dark-lighter narrowed his yellow eyes and released the firing mechanism on his crossbow, timing it perfectly so that the arrow would hit the intruder the moment he took corporeal form. 

But as the orbs coalesced, an arm shot out and grabbed the end of the arrow, stopping it a split-second before it struck the white-lighter in the chest. Two icy blue eyes turned to his attacker, and with a simple blink, the dark-lighter erupted into flames.

"That was a very bad idea," Wyatt commented casually, facing the remaining dark-lighter.

The second dark-lighter swallowed nervously and backed away, terror flickering through his eyes. He raised his crossbow and fired an arrow at Wyatt, at the same time his form broke into tiny black dots, and he tired to back-orb away.

Wyatt incinerated the arrow with an energy ball from one hand, while reaching out with his other hand and making a clenching gesture, holding the dark-lighter where he was. Then he hissed and angry breath from between his teeth, and flicked his wrist, causing the dark-lighter to explode.

"Hunting demons to work out stress issues?" a silky voice called from the shadows. "You really must be upset."

Wyatt spun around, peering through the gloom of the cave to see who was there. He could just make out the blurred outline of someone standing to his right, hidden in the shadows and pressed up against the wall. "Who are you?" he demanded, conjuring an energy ball and moving towards the intruder.

The figure stepped into the light, and Wyatt jumped back in shock.

It was as though he was looking at a younger version of his mother, one that had been deliberately changed in places. She had Piper's long hair and cheekbones, her chocolate brown eyes, and her figure and height. But her skin was pale like Leo's, and her face was softer, rounder. She smiled up at him, her lips splitting to reveal a set of perfect teeth.

"Who are you?" Wyatt breathed, extinguishing the energy ball in his hand. He tilted his head to the side, studying the girl. He could get no reading off of her, but he was feeling something else, something… strange. It was as though…as though she was only partially there. Like she wasn't entirely real. Almost a figment of his imagination, but… but not quite. She was almost real, almost fake. Both and neither at the same time.

The girl laughed, her eyes filled with amusement. "Me? I'm Phase Two," she replied.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Wyatt demanded. He placed his hands on his hips and glared at the girl in annoyance. He couldn't get a clear reading off of her, and that was worrisome. How powerful was she? And what did she have to hide? "Do you have a _real_ name?"

A warlock blinked into the cave and tossed a ball of golden light at Wyatt, then disappeared. The attack was so quick, Wyatt only had a brief glimpse of the warlock before the magic of the light-ball began to work, and darkness started to surround him.

He struggled to stay conscious, forcing himself to orb from the cave. It was difficult, his orbs did not seem to want to obey him, but he put all of his strength into the orbing, and eventually he felt his body disappear. Halfway through the orb, he lost consciousness, and could only hope that his body would instinctively take him back to the Manor.

Right before the darkness surrounded him, he heard the girl's voice calling out. It was distant and muffled, as though she was speaking from far away. But her words were clear, and they reverberated through his mind.

"My name is Melinda."

* * *

Next Chapter: The Lesser of Two Evils 

Due: Tuesday 12/6

Now that we've started Phase Two, things are going to get a little more complicated. That was part of the reason I wrote Bianca out of the story. It was just too much for me to try to weave her with everything else that I needed to happen. So she is out now until the final few chapters. She'll be mentioned now and then, but her character won't actually appear for a while. Also, the rest of the Phoenix clan isn't really that important (except for Bianca, Lynn, and near the end of the story, Matt), so don't bother trying to remember who is who or any of that. I was just trying to show how loyal they are to each other, that even though Bianca has turned her back on their heritage, she is still a Phoenix and they will appear the instant she calls.


	13. The Lesser of Two Evils

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: Okay, this was a crazy couple of days for me, so I am doing another group response to the reviews. First, about the many comments I've gotten on Phase Two/Melinda: I'm not going to say too much about her until the Charmed Ones figure it all out. Suffice to say, many of you are partially right in your guesses, but nobody has gotten it completely correct. About Chris and the warlock: the warlock was also part of Phase Two. And it was the same warlock who attacked both Wyatt and Chris. As for what he did to them, nobody has guessed that completely right either, but it will be explained later on. Sorry, I know that doesn't really answer many questions, but I don't want to give too much away. About the Halliwells in general: they are in for a very long and difficult fight. Theoretically, if everything goes occording to plan (which may or may not happen depending on whether or not this story takes on a life of its own), the identities and ultimate end game of the demon and Seer should be revealed at some point in the next ten to fifteen chapters or so. I know that is a long time, but if I can continue updating as frequently as I am now (which again may or may not happen depending on school-it's really annoying that I actually have to write papers and study and stuff, but oh well) all should be revealed in about three weeks (before New Year's!). Lastly: for those of you who are sad to see Bianca go, she will be back eventaully, just not for a while.

Next item of business: due to new rules (ones that I don't particularly like) I can't post replies to reviews on the chapter anymore. So, either leave a signed review, or, if you aren't a registered user of the website you can leave your e-mail in the appropriate box and I will answer your reviews that way. I can't promise that I will reply as soon as you review, but all the replies will be sent out before the next chapter is updated.

This is a relatively non-eventful chapter, mostly just a plot device to get from one scene to the next, but I promise the next chapters will have more action in them.

* * *

Chapter Twelve: The Lesser of Two Evils

Piper was beside herself with worry. A few moments ago, her youngest son had disappeared from the attic. Her eldest son was still out there somewhere, alone and upset, and she couldn't help either of them. Leo had just healed Phoebe and Paige, who had demanded to know every detail of what had happened after Chris knocked them unconscious, and then each had left the room, Phoebe to check in with Jason and Paige to take her daughters and Prue to Magic School.

Piper continued flipping through the pages of the Book of Shadows, all the while knowing there was nothing there. Finally reaching the last page of the Book, she slammed the cover shut in frustration and turned to glare at Leo. "Damn it, Leo," she snapped. "Just sense him! You're on an Elder, how hard could it be?"

Leo looked at his wife, trying his best not to be upset by her comment. He knew her frustration wasn't directed at him, but the words stung all the same. All her words to him lately had been biting...

_Oh, now he is your son. Now that you realized how much of a screw up you were in the past life._

"I'm trying, Piper," he said in a voice of forced calm. "But even an Elder can override cloaking. And for all we know, Chris could be in the Underworld where I wouldn't be able to sense him anyway."

Piper flinched at the thought of Chris in the Underworld and said, "Well, can you talk to the Elders? They must know something…"

"I tried," Leo replied. "I talked to the Elders the first time Chris went missing, but they didn't know anything." He gave Piper a pointed stare and said, "I told you that already."

Piper frowned and shot back, "Well, what am I supposed to do? My son is missing. Both my sons are missing!" She stepped away from the Book and began to pace back and forth across the floor. "I'm allowed to be worried."

"Of course you are," Leo replied softly. "But in case you haven't noticed, you aren't the only one who is having problems right now. Chris and Wyatt are my sons as well, Phoebe and Jason are having pretty serious marital problems, and God only knows what is happening with Paige and Kyle…"

Piper hesitated for a moment, then said in a tired voice, "I really don't think now is the time to deal with this, Leo."

"Really?" Leo asked, raising an eyebrow at her. "Because I think now is the perfect time. You and your sisters don't have powers anymore, and unless we all work through the issues we've got, you aren't going to get them back any time soon. And we will never be able to find Chris and Wyatt and help them unless we can provide a united front. As a family."

Piper's anger faded some at Leo's gentle reproach, and she remained silent for a time, contemplating the words. At last, she said slowly, softly, "I get what you are saying Leo, but…" She walked back over to the Book and flipped through the pages again. "The issues that we have with each other are going to take time to sort out. And right now, my sons are in danger. I don't have the time to deal with this, not if I want to help them."

"But don't you get it, Piper? If this family can't work through its problems, we won't be able to help anyone, least of all ourselves," Leo retorted. "Healing has to start from within."

Piper smiled slightly and said, "Spoken like a true Elder, I see…"

Leo grinned. "Yeah, well, since I've dropped the 'Blessed Be,' I figured I needed something else to replace it with."

Piper laughed, then stopped abruptly, her eyes clouding over with worry and frustration. She bit her lip and looked down at the entry in the Book of Shadows. It was about Goblins.

_By the way, you should update your goblins entry. It'll come in handy some day._

_Goblins?_

_Yeah, trust me. It's gonna get ugly._

And quite suddenly, Piper burst into tears.

Leo walked over to his wife, confusion on his face, and asked gently, "Piper?" She didn't respond, but simply sobbed harder, and Leo did the first thing that came to mind. He pulled her into a hug.

"I just…get the feeling…that something bad is going to…going to happen," Piper sobbed, her words choked, her voice muffled by Leo's chest, "and there…is nothing…nothing I can do…to stop it."

A moment later, a set of orbs appeared, and Wyatt's unconscious form materialized on the attic floor.

* * *

"Jason?" Phoebe asked, knocking on the door of his office and stepping hesitantly into the room. "Do you have a moment?" 

Jason looked up from his work and sighed. He hadn't spoken to Phoebe at all since the argument with her and her sisters. The silence between the two was awkward, neither knowing what to say, until Jason managed, "What's up?"

Phoebe shifted back and forth on her feet, then said, "I just wanted to make sure you were okay…"

"Phoebe, what is going on?" Jason demanded, getting worried. He had never seen her this nervous before, and the fact that she just wanted to see if he was okay…

Did she had a reason to think otherwise?

"Nothing," Phoebe answered quickly. A little too quickly. "Just… the usual."

"Is it about Chris?" Jason pressed. "Did you find him?"

Phoebe closed her eyes for a moment, then nodded and replied, "We found him and we lost him." She shivered, remembering the cold look in his eyes right before he had thrown them all across the room. What had happened? What evil had managed to get to him, and what exactly had it done?

"What?" Jason asked, confused. "What do you mean you lost him again?"

Phoebe frowned for a moment, then said, "Look, Jason, I don't really have time to talk about this right now. I need to get back to the Manor. Just…be careful, alright? Call me if anything weird happens." She hesitated, wanting to stay and protect him, knowing she had to return to her sisters. It was times like these that her heart was torn in half. She hated to leave him unprotected but what could she do? Short of taking him to Magic School, an idea Jason hadalready emphatically vetoed a long time ago, there was little she could do to keep hims safe. Finally, she let out a breath she didn;t realize she had been holding and turned to go.

Jason moved across the room and grabbed Phoebe's arm, preventing her from leaving the room. He reached behind her and shoved the door to his office closed so that no one outside could hear, then snapped, "Phoebe! I have a right to know what is going on." He was gripping her arm slightly tighter than necessary, and the look in his eyes was a little bit angrier, but he was upset and scared and confused and tired of being the last person to know what was going on.

"Jason…"

"What about Prue? Is she in any danger? Where is she right now? Did you leave her at the Manor? Is she safe there?" Jason pressed, his mind instantly coming up with thousands of scenarios that put his daughter in grave danger. He knew his daughter was one of the next generation of Charmed Ones, along with her two younger cousins, but she was still just a kid in his eyes, and having to protect the world from evil seemed like to grave a responsibility.

"Paige is taking her, Mel, and Pen to Magic School. They should be safe there," Phoebe replied, wincing as she tugged her arm out of his grip. "Once we get Wyatt and Chris back, we'll figure out if it is safe for them to…"

"Wyatt?" Jason interrupted. "Is Wyatt missing too?"

Phoebe blinked. She had forgotten that Jason didn't know any of the recent developments. She nodded slowly and said, "Yes, he got…upset. He orbed away, and we can't sense him anywhere."

"He got upset now?" Jason asked. "He was okay…_relatively_ okay…last night."

"Delayed reaction," Phoebe replied. "He was in shock last night, but now he that he has had time to come to grips with what he heard, with who he was…" She rubbed her tired eyes. "I need to get back, Jason, but I just… I just needed to know that you were okay."

"Phoebe, let me help you," Jason begged. "Let me help all of you." He paused for a moment, then said, "It sounds like you need it."

Phoebe shook her head, refuting Jason's words. "What I need right now is to know that you are safe," she contradicted. Seeing the annoyance on his face, she pressed on,"Once this is all over, then we can talk about us. We _will_ talk about us."

"Phoebe…"

Phoebe snapped. Before she realized what she was doing, she had started yelling at her husband. "Piper, Paige, and I lost our powers! Chris got attacked by a demon and attacked me! Wyatt's gone and he blocked himself so we can't find him! Prue almost died from those dark-lighters! And God only knows what is going to happen to us once the Underworld realizes we don't have our powers!"

Jason's mouth opened in shock, but no words came out, and concern flashed across his face.

Phoebe took a breath to calm her frayed nerves, then said, "Look, Jason, I _know_ that we need to talk. I know there is a lot we need to discuss and to hash out. But I can't right now. I need to focus on everything else right now. But I can't do that, I can't help my sisters, if I have to worry about you being killed by a demon at the same time. Please, just trust me on this." She placed her hands over his, looking up into his eyes and silently begging him to understand.

Jason sighed and nodded slowly, then turned away from Phoebe and walked back over to his desk. "Let me know if there is anything I can do to help," he said, glancing at her over his shoulder.

Phoebe nodded reluctantly, feeling guilty. She wished so badly that she could just stay and talk to him and forget about the others. She loved him with all her heart, and she didn't want to lose him. But she couldn't forget about the rest of her family. They were in danger, mortal danger, and they needed her.

"Look," she said at last, "I want to talk, I really do. I just…I just don't have the time to deal with us right now." She turned and walked out of the office, closing the door gently behind her.

Jason stared at the spot Phoebe had stood moments before, then whispered to the empty room, "When _are _you going to have the time to deal with us, Phoebe?"

* * *

Chris clutched his head for a moment, willing the world to stop spinning. As soon as the dizziness faded, he straightened up and looked around. He was in the Underworld, in a cave. He blinked once or twice, trying to remember how he had gotten there. Finally, memories of the arguments with his parents and Bianca came flooding back, and he grimaced. 

He shouldn't have yelled at them like that. He shouldn't have attacked his mother. He shouldn't have orbed away.

There were so many things he shouldn't have done.

But he did.

He rubbed his eyes and frowned. He should go back to the Manor. His mother was probably beside herself with worry. His father was most likely worried and scared. And Wyatt… he had no idea how Wyatt was dealing with the truth. The thought caused a rush of guilt to flood through him, he should have been more sensitive to his brother's feelings.

After all, it wasn't Wyatt's fault he turned evil.

And then there was the warlock attack. He had not even managed to get a glimpse of the warlock before he had fallen unconscious, so he had no idea who it was who was after him. He should go to his family and maybe they could help him figure out what was going on. Maybe they could identify and vanquish his attacker.

Then again, why bother them with this? It wasn't like he had no experience with fighting demons. He had grown up in a hell world…or at least, the other version of him had. But he had most of the memories, so he knew how to take care of himself. He could handle his problems, and let the family handle theirs.

Chris sighed and frowned, wondering what to do next. How did one go about tracking demons? He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on his other memories. After a moment of thinking, he realized he needed a demonic contact. He didn't have one, but…

Maybe he could go to a demon who had been his contact in the past. After all, the demon should still recognize him, right? He didn't _look_ any different. Then perhaps the demon could tell him who had the power to conjure golden orbs of light. And he could find the warlock, and take care of the problem on his own.

No need to drag his family into this.

Yes, that seemed like a good idea. He could take care of himself. He would find the warlock, vanquish it, and then go tell the others that the threat was gone.

And then maybe they could talk.

Maybe…

He didn't really want to talk about anything anymore.

He could deal with his insecurities and frustrations on his own.

He always did.

* * *

"Paige, we need to talk," Kyle announced, walking into his wife's office at Magic School. Without waiting for her consent, he took a seat across from her and looked around the tiny office. It was much smaller than Leo's, but still roomier than the offices of the other teachers. Perks of being a Charmed One… 

"Not right now, Kyle," Paige replied dismissively. She was busing hurrying around the room, grabbing books and bottles of potions, and anything else she thought could possibly be useful for finding her wayward nephews and the evil that had attacked them. "I just dropped Prue, Mel, and Pen off with Trisha, and now I need to get back to the Manor. We need to get a handle on the situation before everything gets out of control." She paused and glanced over at Kyle. "You know that we lost our powers?"

"Yes, the Elders informed me," Kyle answered.

Paige narrowed her eyes at her husband and demanded sardonically, "Did they now? Did they tell you anything else I should know?"

Kyle winced and sighed. "That is what we need to talk about, Paige."

"You lied!" Paige hissed. "You lied to me. You know about Chris and Bianca and you…"

Kyle reached out and placed a hand on Paige's shoulder, but she shrugged him off angrily. "Paige, I didn't have a choice," Kyle explained patiently. "The Elders wanted to keep everything a secret, and…"

"And what?" Paige cut in. "You decided to listen to them over your family? How could you not tell us?"

Kyle bit his lip, and weighed his options. He could lie and try to mend the rift between the two, or he could tell the truth, and see how Paige reacted. Lying seemed like the best idea, but Kyle couldn't bring himself to do it. Even if Paige disagreed with his reasoning, even if she thought he was wrong, foolish, traitorous to the family...even so, she deserved the truth.

"They were right, Paige!" Kyle replied strongly. "Everything they were worried about, Piper and Leo's reaction to Bianca, the possibility of instigating a feud between the Phoenixes and the Halliwells…can you honestly tell me that you don't agree with them?" He crossed his arms over his chest and began to pace the small study. "Even if they hadn't told me to keep it a secret, I would have. It wasn't mine to tell."

"You _shouldn't _keep secrets from your family," Paige replied bitterly. "That is what got us into this mess to start with." She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and continued in a softer voice, "I stood up for you in the argument because I agreed with your reasoning. But not your methods. You _lied_ to me."

"I did not," Kyle defended himself. "You never directly asked me if I knew about Bianca."

"A lie by omission is still a lie," Paige replied. "And at dinner the other night when I asked you what the Elders wanted and you said it was about a charge…" Worry suddenly flooded her face. "You aren't Bianca's white-lighter, are you?"

Kyle shook his head quickly. "No, I'm not." He paused and then admitted reluctantly, "The Elders wanted me to be, but I turned them down."

"Why?" Paige asked, surprised. She dropped into the seat behind the desk and stared at her husband for a moment, waiting for an explanation. She was surprised that he would have turned down a white-lighter job. He rarely did, claiming that the Elders were short on white-lighters, or he was a perfect fit with his new charge, or it would only be a temporary commitment... She knew it was none of those reasons, and he simply liked being a white-lighter. He found the job rewarding, and even if it took him away from his family for extended periods of time, no one could say that he was not a wonderful father.

And until last night, Paige would have said he was a wonderful husband as well. Now she couldn't help but wonder if she had been wrong.

"Because I _didn't _want tolie to you," Kyle retorted. He sighed and shrugged, shaking his head slowly. "Keeping Bianca's relationship with Chris a secret is one thing. Being her white-lighter is something else entirely." He closed his eyes for a moment, then said, "How was I suppose to tell you anyway? How was I suppose to explain to you? That I knew about Chris' clandestine relationship with an assassin and we couldn't tell anyone? That wouldn't have gone over well."

"No, really?" Paige replied sarcastically.

"And telling you would have been a betrayal of Chris," Kyle continued. "He didn't want any of you to know, and the Elders knew that. They respect his privacy. And so do I."

Paige frowned and asked, "But at what cost?"

Kyle shrugged and said, "No matter what I did, I was wrong. But I chose the course of action I thought was the lesser of two evils." He hesitated, then said, "I think we all do that a lot."

"What do you mean?" Paige asked in confusion, standing up and resuming her pacing again.

"Phoebe puts all of her marriage problems on hold to deal with magical issues because she would rather have a failed marriage than a murdered family. Piper hid the truth from Chris and Wyatt because she would rather have sons who were safe but upset with her, than sons who were haunted by the truth about who they had been and what had happened to them. Leo trained Chris behind Piper's back because he preferred to have Piper mad at him than Chris dead."

Paige nodded slowly, understanding. "Being in this endless fight against evil requires sacrifice," she agreed. "And we are always forced to chose what can give way, and what we value the most." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I just…I just thought our marriage was more stable than Phoebe's and Jason's, you know? I thought…I just…I don't know…" As much as she hated to admit it, she had prided herself on how good of a relationship she and Kyle had...and how much more stable it was than her middle sister's.

Not that she wanted Phoebe's marriage to fail. Quite the opposite. She would have been ecstatic to see Phoebe and Jason work everything out.

As long as she and Kyle continued to get along well, that is.

"It is more stable," Kyle pointed out. "We aren't considering divorce." He crossed his arms over his chest and continued, "Although, in all honesty, I think it is a miracle any of us stayed in a marriage for as long as we did. The track record in this family isn't so good…"

Paige grinned. "No, I guess it isn't." She let out a heavy breath and said, "I just…I need some time to get used to the idea that we keep secrets also. I'm not so mad at you anymore, but…" she turned away and looked and walked back over to her desk. "I just need time."

Kyle nodded sadly. "I understand," he whispered before orbing out.

* * *

Prue paced slowly up and down the length of the room. Mel and Pen sat next to each other on the sofa, their young faces unusually grave. They were gathered in one of the many rooms at Magic School, waiting for their parents to come and get them and let them know what was going on. 

Mel glanced over at Pen then turned to Prue said quietly, "Did Aunt Phoebe tell you anything?"

Prue closed her eyes and let out a short breath. "Not much," she replied. "Just that Chris came back from Bianca's apartment seriously injured, and they were worried about an attack."

"And they don't have their powers?" Pen added.

Prue swallowed and nodded.

"You okay?" Mel asked, narrowing her eyes at Prue. "You've been really jumpy lately."

Prue shrugged, trying and failing to appear indifferent. After a moment of hesitation, she said in a choked voice, "I just… I just get the feeling that something really bad is going to happen."

"You're getting that also?" Pen questioned, leaning forward. "I thought it was just me." She shot a sidelong look at Mel and asked her twin, "You getting the same feeling, Mel?"

Mel nodded slowly. "More than that, though. I feel like…like there is something so obvious in front of us, but we just can't see it." There was an uncomfortable silence, then she continued, "I don't want anything to happen to us."

Prue opened her mouth to stay something, but a sharp buzzing noise cut through the air. Prue reached for the purse she had dropped by the door and pulled out her cell phone. She glanced at the caller ID and frowned slightly, recognizing her boyfriend's number.

"Justin, hey," she greeted, trying to sound enthusiastic.

"Hey Prue," Justin's voice replied. He was evidently not convinced by her attempt at sounding casual because he asked instantly, "Is something wrong?"

"No, everything is fine," Prue replied quickly. "Why would anything be wrong?" She cringed inwardly as she realized her voice was about an octave higher than normal.

"Because we had a date for tonight and you clearly forgot. That's not like you, Prue. What's going on?"

"Oh, Justin, I'm so sorry," Prue replied, wincing. "We are just having some family issues right now, and I can't…"

"Sure," Justin replied quickly, cutting her off. "Family emergency." He sounded annoyed for a moment, but when he spoke again, his voice was just full of concern, "Everything okay?"

"I don't know," Prue answered honestly. "I really don't know."

"Anything I can do to help?" Justin offered.

Prue sighed heavily and closed her eyes. "No, I don't think there is. Thanks though. And sorry for standing you up."

"Don't worry about it," came the reply.

Prue hung up and glanced at her phone. "You know, for a mortal who has no idea about magic or why I am constantly canceling on him, he sure is understanding," she muttered to herself. She turned and glanced over at her twin cousins, and could tell instantly from the look on their face that she was about to get teased.

And sure enough…

"Prue and Justin, sitting in a tree…"

* * *

Next Chapter: Realizations 

Due: Friday 12/9


	14. Realizations

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's Note: See, part of the reason that I don't like this whole no replying to reviews in the chapter thing, is because sometimes it is interesting to read what the author replies to another person's review if you had the same question they did. Instead, I'm going to use the 'author's note' to say something that I think might be important. So if the reply I sent to you says basically the same thing that the author's note does, I apologize.

But here is what I wanted to clear up: I had a question about Prue's boyfriend's name. It is Justin. When I went back and reread what I had written, I realized that I called him Justin, Josh, and Jason. I edited the chapter, so it should be corect now. About Justin's character, a lot of people keep asking if he is evil because of the 'for a mortal who knows nothing about magic he is very understanding' line. I really didn't mean for it to sound so suspicious. He is just a mortal, not a demon, not a witch, not evil or anything like that. Prue'snormal, mortal boyfriend.

Thanks for all of the reviews, I think I replied to all of them but if I missed you for some reason yell at me (via the reviews for the next chapter) and I'll be sure to reply to you.

* * *

Chapter Thirteen: Realizations

Before Wyatt's body had fully materialized on the attic floor, Leo was already leaning over him, his hands outstretched. Piper ran to his side, her heart clenching painfully at the sight of the gaping wound on Wyatt's chest. Whoever had gotten Chris, had gone after her other son as well. She balled her hands into fists, waiting and watching as the golden glow that seeped from Leo's hands did its work, and Wyatt's eyes fluttered open.

"Mom?" Wyatt muttered, rolling to his side and pushing himself to his knees. "Dad? What happened?" He blinked, his eyes adjusting to the bright light of the attic after having been so long in the dimly lit underworld. The world around him spun slightly, and he gasped in shock, holding his head in his hands. Knowing his actions were probably freaking his mother out, he said quickly, "I'm okay. Just a dizzy spell. It'll pass." He stood slowly, and upon finding that the dizziness was gone, flashed his mother a reassuring smile. "What happened?" he repeated.

"I was hoping you could tell us," Piper replied, throwing her arms around her sons neck and pushing away the urge to burst into tears of relief. She clung tightly to him, as though worried that if she let him go he would disapear again.

Wyatt reached up and firmly detached his mother's arms from his neck, grinning slightly. "I'm okay," he repeated, shaking his head at her. He glanced over at Leo. "Thanks for the healing…"

Leo ruffled his son's hair and replied easily, "Any time. Although normally you heal yourself…" He tried to keep the concern out of his voice, not wanting to worry Piper anymore than she already was, but it didn't work.

Piper's head snapped over to face Leo and she demanded instantly, "Do you think something took his self-healing ability?" She began to pace across the floor, fear rising rapidly in her chest. The unsettling feeling she had experienced before, the feeling that something big was happening, grew slowly within her.

"Maybe it was just an unusual type of wound," Wyatt suggested. He rubbed his eyes and turned hopefully to his father. "Any news on Chris?"

Piper and Leo exchanged a brief glance, then Leo said, "He got attacked by something. Judging by the burn on your chest, I would say whoever attacked him also attacked you. Bianca brought him here to be healed, but then he was acting strange. He orbed away." Leo paused for a moment, then turned worried eyes to Wyatt. "You aren't feeling anything unusual, are you?"

Wyatt titled his head to one side, considering the question, then shrugged. "No, not really," he replied. He glanced down at his chest where the burn had been and said in a puzzled tone, "I don't feel anything strange. Should I?"

"Well, Chris was a little…" Leo let the sentence drift, not sure what to say.

"Can you sense him?" Piper asked quickly, changing the subject as she turned to her oldest son. "Can you find Chris?"

Wyatt closed his eyes and concentrated, then shook his head. "No," he replied. He bit his lip, then said hesitantly, "But he isn't blocking me."

"What?" Piper questioned, confused.

"I can tell _he_ isn't the reason I can't sense him," Wyatt explained. "Whenever I sense for someone who is blocked, I can always tell when they are blocking me. I may not be able to locate them, but I can still feel the mental shield they're using against me." He walked over to the sofa and tossed himself into it, upset, concerned, and frightened.

"And you don't feel that with Chris?" Piper frowned, worried. "What does that mean?"

"He's in the Underworld," Leo answered for Wyatt. "It means he is in the Underworld."

"Well," Piper said, getting up and walking over to the Book of Shadows, "maybe if we figure out who attacked you both, we can figure out where Chris is and what is going on with him." She flipped the cover of the Book open and beckoned to her son. "Did you get a look at the attacker?"

"It was a warlock," Wyatt replied, getting up again and joining his mother at the Book. "He had dark hair and brown eyes. He was dressed all in black. And he hit me with a ball of light. Gold light." He turned to his father. "That description ring any bells?"

"No, but I'll check with the Elders," Leo replied, orbing away.

Once Leo had disappeared, Piper turned to Wyatt and said in a soft voice, "How are you doing?"

Wyatt swallowed the lump in his throat and looked away. "I just…I guess I just have trouble believing I would do that," he replied, his voice shaking. "I hurt Chris so much… Did you see the way he looked at me?"

Piper pulled her son into a hug, her heart breaking as she saw the lost and hurt look on his face. "That wasn't you, baby. You were turned by someone, okay? You aren't evil, and Chris knows that. He loves you. Otherwise he wouldn't have risked everything to save you," she murmured, praying silently that Wyatt would be able to deal with the truth about the other timeline.

"And look what it cost him," Wyatt snapped back, pulling out of his mother's embrace. "I mean, I took everything away from. I tried to kill him, I really killed his fiancée, I…" He stopped suddenly and looked around in confusion, realizing something. "Wait, where _is_ Bianca?"

"Probably back at her house," Piper replied with a shrug, not really caring about the Phoenix. She turned her attention back to the Book and flipped through the pages, quickly scanning the entries as she did so.

"She didn't want to stay around?" Wyatt questioned. His eyebrows raised slightly. "I can't imagine her giving up like that. She seemed pretty determined to stay with Chris."

"Your father orbed her out of the house," Piper replied with a smug grin, shooting a sideways glance at her son. "She didn't really have a choice."

"She didn't just shimmer back?"

Piper frowned. "Yeah, I kind of wondered about that." She shrugged and turned back to the Book. "I guess she realized it was better for all of us if she stayed away." She bit her lip, then cast a sideways look at Wyatt. "Sweetheart, are you sure that…"

"No," Wyatt cut off. At his mother's confused look, he elaborated, "You were going to ask if I was sure that I was okay. Well, I'm not sure. And I'm probably not okay. But…I just want to focus on getting my brother back. Once he is safe, then I'll…then I'll deal with everything else." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then walked back to the sofa and sat down again. "Right now, finding Chris is what matters." He said the words with such conviction that Piper couldn't help but feel the pride for her two sons swell in her chest.

"You are an amazing older brother, you know that?" Piper said gently, walking over to her son and sitting down next to him. She placed a hand around him and he leaned his head on her shoulder. "Chris is lucky to have you, and I am pretty sure he knows that," she murmured.

Wyatt nodded and let out a shaky breath. "I just hope he still thinks that."

"He does," Piper said with such certainty that Wyatt couldn't help but believe her. She gave her son a warm smile and continued, "We are all lucky to have you. Your Dad and I, Chris, and everyone else in the family, we love you. We always will, and nothing can change that. Remember that, okay?"

"Okay," Wyatt agreed, smiling sadly. "Thanks," he added. He got up restlessly and walked back over to the Book. Turning the page, he scanned the entry, looking for the warlock that had attacked. Finding nothing, he turned the page again. A moment later, Piper joined him and peered over his shoulder, watching silently. After a minute of this silence, he said, "Mom?"

"Yeah?"

"There is something else. Before the warlock attacked, I ran into this girl…" He took a deep breath, hoping he wouldn't sound like an idiot. "She was in the Underworld, watching me. She said…she said she was Phase Two."

"Phase Two?" Piper repeated, her eyes widening. "Wait, does that mean there was a Phase One?" She ran a hand through her hair, her eyebrows knitted together as she thought over the events of the last few days. Everything that had happened, the way the problems just kept coming... Realization hit her, and she gasped in shock. "We were set up!"

"What?" Wyatt demanded, looking up from the Book.

Piper began to pace. "Prue… when I asked her were she got the idea to look in my closet for the picture, she said it just came into her mind. Just appeared. Like…"

"…astral projection," Wyatt finished for her.

"Exactly. And the fight with Phoebe and Paige...when I got so mad at them, I felt irrationally angry. The anger was always there, but it was as though someone hit a switch that made us so much more furious…" Piper paused pacing long enough to turn to Wyatt and say in a guilty voice, "We lost our powers."

"What!"

But Piper didn't respond to Wyatt's exclamation. She was still lost in her own thoughts. "And Chris' idea for the memory potion, that could have been…and Prue's premonition of the picture, what if that was planted by the… And the warlock attacks…" She paused and rubbed her eyes. "Lynn said…Lynn said the memory potion only worked part way. But…it should have worked all the way, unless someone interfered with it... And then the dark-lighter attack…we kept getting pushed into stressful situations so frequently…"

"You think Phase One was revealing the truth to Chris?" Wyatt questioned, trying to keep up with his mother's train of thought.

"No," Piper replied, shaking her head. "Chris was just a step in that Phase. Whoever was behind it used him to get us to turn against each other. Losing our powers…_that_ was Phase One."

"And this girl, she's Phase Two?" Wyatt asked. He shook his head and continued, "And where does the warlock fit into all of this? Is he the one behind it?"

"Maybe. Maybe he is a hired gun," Piper mused. She walked over to the sofa and sank down into it, suddenly mentally exhausted. "Leo!" she yelled. "Leo, Paige! Get Phoebe, Prue, and the twins, and get over here. Now!"

"If that was Phase One," Wyatt said abruptly, "and this girl is Phase Two, what is the end game? What's the ultimate goal?"

Piper glanced at Wyatt, then shook her head slowly, worried. "I have no idea…" she admitted quietly. "This girl, what did she say to you? Do you know who she was?" she questioned, her mind still buzzing from all the ideas swirling around in it.

Wyatt blinked for a moment, then bit his lip again and said, "Mom…I think…she might have been…one of us."

"What?" Piper asked, confused.

"She said her name was Melinda."

* * *

"You're a hard warlock to find," Chris said coldly as he walked into yet another cave in the Underworld. He leaned against the rock wall, smirking at the warlock in front of him. The warlock, surprised by the sudden appearance of the witch-lighter, quickly took a defensive stance and conjured an energy ball. 

"Didn't realize you were looking for me," the warlock replied, his voice silky. His dark eyes flashed dangerously as he eyed Chris. "Didn't think you would be stupid enough to try and find me."

Chris made a gesture with his fist, telekinetically choking the warlock. He watched impassively as the warlock fell to the cave floor, gasping for breath and clutching at his throat.

The warlock struggled for a moment, then raised his hand and threw the energy ball at Chris. Chris was forced to dodge it, letting his telekinetic grip drop. The warlock instantly blinked out, then reappeared behind Chris. He grabbed Chris by the shoulders and threw him into the far wall of the cave with ease.

Chris smashed into the stone and crumpled to the ground. He rolled to his side and flung his arm out, telekinetically sending the warlock sprawling. The warlock responded quickly by sending another energy ball, this one more powerful than the last, at Chris. Chris orbed away, barely avoiding the energy ball, then reappeared closer to the warlock and flicked his wrist, causing a handful of sand from the floor of the cave to fling itself into the warlock's eyes.

The warlock snarled in pain as he was temporarily blinded, then threw both hands forward, releasing a powerful wave of energy. Chris, unprepared for so powerful an attack, was unable to escape the wave, and he sunk to the ground in pain. The warlock rubbed the sand from his eyes, then smirked at the momentarily stunned witch-lighter.

As Chris' world faded away, he heard the warlock say, "Well, let's see what the rest of your family is up to, shall we?"

* * *

Pen and Mel sat hunched over on the floor of the attic, leaning their backs against the sofa. Phoebe and Paige both paced the attic floor, while Leo and Piper sat on the sofa. Wyatt was perched on one of the stools, slowly looking through the pages of the Book. Everyone in the room was silent, each thinking about Piper's revelation and Wyatt's story about the mystery girl. 

"So…she looked like Piper?" Paige asked. She had asked the question several times in the past few minutes, but she still could not quite comprehend what she had heard. "And she said her name was Melinda."

"Yes," Wyatt answered solemnly.

"And she felt only partially real?" Prue questioned, her eyebrows furrowed in thought. "Do you mean like she was a ghost?"

"No," Wyatt answered, shaking his head. "No, it wasn't like that. It was…I don't know. I can't describe it, okay? It was just…different."

"And you think a demon is behind everything that happened? Or a warlock or something?" Phoebe asked Piper.

Piper nodded wordlessly.

"Behind the fight? Behind us losing our powers?" Phoebe pressed.

"Well, obviously the issues we fought about were very real. But whoever is behind this, they _helped_ the fight along a little," Piper explained. "What with the dark-lighters and all…"

Phoebe and Paige nodded, accepting this. They looked at each other, each feeling guilty and furious at the same time, then looked away. It was going to take a long time to get over what had happened, what had been said, and what had been done.

But right now they had bigger issues.

"And Prue finding the picture?" Mel asked. "And Chris and the potion? All of that was…_helped_…along?" She played with a strand of hair for a moment, then closed her eyes and said, "The demon really knew what he or she was doing."

There was a silence, then Phoebe asked Leo, "Did the Elders know anything about the warlock and the weird gold light thing?"

Leo shook his head. "Nothing specific. They're looking into it. They are really…worried."

"So am I," Piper added quietly. "And with good reason."

"No kidding…" Phoebe looked in between her sister and brother-in-law, troubled. "If a demon is behind this, then they must know a lot about us. I mean, they knew about the other timeline, and about the other Chris, they knew about Jason and I, they knew Wyatt was upset with Paige, they knew about you and Piper arguing over whether or not to train Chris… To influence the argument the way they did, they must know _everything_ about us."

"And we don't even know who they are," Paige pointed out. She turned to Leo and asked, "Have the other Elders mentioned anything about a rising power in the Underworld? Because whoever is doing this must have a lot of power."

"No, I haven't heard anything…" Leo replied, running a hand through his hair. "Not that they tell me anything anymore," he added as an afterthought, thinking about Bianca and the secret Kyle and the others had kept. "Like I said, though, they are worried." And when the Elders were worried... that was never a good sign.

A dismal silence met those words, then Phoebe said, "I should tell Jason and Paige should tell Kyle. Everybody needs to be on the alert for whatever is going to happen next."

"I just wish we knew what the end game was," Piper murmured quietly, rubbing her tired eyes. She yawned slightly and stretched, her muscles straining as she moved.

"Well, I would guess that he is trying to kill us," Prue commented dryly, her lips curving upwards into a sardonic smile.

"Is he?" Piper asked quietly, turning toward her oldest niece. "I mean, we don't have powers anymore, we were all at each others throats just a little while ago, we were fragmented…" she paused and glanced at Phoebe and Paige, then amended her statement, "We _still_ _are_ fragmented… Wyatt was missing, Chris is missing… If the demon's ultimate goal was our deaths…don't you think he would have attacked by now?"

"The warlock…"

"Didn't kill anyone," Leo cut in. "Piper's right, I don't think the ultimate goal is your deaths. The warlock could have killed Wyatt and Chris, but didn't. You could have been attacked, but you weren't. Whoever is behind this, he is planning something else."

"Or she," Mel piped up. "It could be a girl, you know."

Seven sets of eyes turned to her and she shrugged. "Well, it could be. Assuming that is a guy is just sexist," she pouted at the others.

Paige cracked a slight smile at her daughter's words, then sobered almost immediately. "So we don't really know _anything_?"

The three Charmed Ones and the Elder all exchanged darkly significant looks, then Wyatt bluntly stated what everyone else was thinking.

"So, basically, we're screwed."

* * *

Next Chapter: Wounds Not Healed by Time 

Due: Monday 12/12

Sorry guys, this chapter and the next one both don't have much Chris, but I promise that will change soon.


	15. Wounds Not Healed by Time

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: Thanks to all who reviewed. This chapter starts directly after where the last one ended, so I've placed the last few sentences of the last chapter in italics at the begining of this one to remind you all what just happened. As always, please read and review.

* * *

Chapter Fourteen: Wounds Not Healed By Time

Paige cracked a slight smile at her daughter's words, then sobered almost immediately. "So we don't really know anything?"

The three Charmed Ones and the Elder all exchanged darkly significant looks, then Wyatt bluntly stated what everyone else was thinking.

"So, basically, we're screwed."

Out of nowhere, the warlock appeared in the attic, and conjured a ball of golden light.

Prue was the first to see him, and she jumped to her feet, prepared to attack him. Piper swung her head around and saw him, lifting her arms to blow him up, forgetting once again that she did not have her powers. Paige, meanwhile, instantly ran over to her daughters, standing between them and danger.

When Piper's powers failed to work, the warlock laughed at them, and he threw the ball of light.

It hit Leo, and the Elder fell to the ground with a thud. A second ball of light hit Prue in the chest, and she too collapsed , her eyes closing. Pen and Mel ran to her side, while Phoebe cried out in fury and threw herself at the warlock, tackling him to the ground and kicking him twice in the chest. The warlock shoved her away and gasped in shock and blood appeared on his chest, then he snarled and backhanded Phoebe across the room. She smashed into the wall and slid to the floor, unconscious.

Paige, her orbing power still intact, orbed over to a cupboard full of potions and grabbed a bottle, spinning and hurling it at the warlock. He blinked out, and the potion bottle crashed harmlessly to the floor.

"Pathetic," he spat, blinking back on the other side of the room. "The great Halliwell family can't even vanquish a single warlock. You are all as useless as the weak witch-lighter. He actually put up a adequate fight, but in the end he couldn't get me. I would have finished him off then and there, if I wasn't under orders to keep him alive. Weak, useless, pitiably witch, probably would have been a favor to the side of good to get rid of such an inept…"

It was then that Wyatt stood up.

The warlock barely had time to register the Twice Blessed's movement before a pulse of pure energy struck him in the chest. He cried out in agony as the pain rushed through his body. He writhed on the floor, silently begging for Wyatt to stop.

But Wyatt didn't.

"Where is my brother?" Wyatt snarled, putting more and more energy into his attack. "What did you do to him? Tell me!"

"Wyatt!" Piper cried, horrified. She ran to his side and placed a hand on his arm, trying to drag him away from the warlock he was torturing. "Stop it! He can't answer you if you don't let him talk."

Wyatt shoved her away and turned back to the warlock. "Where is he? Tell me now!" He paused the energy blast and then waved his hand, and the warlock was consumed in flames. The flames burned for a moment, and the warlock screamed, then Wyatt waved his hand again and they disappeared. "Tell me or the flames will just keep coming."

"Crystals, circle," Paige called out, directing a cage to appear around the warlock. Piper, meanwhile, managed to get her arms around her son's shoulders and drag him away from the warlock.

"Stop it!" Piper hissed, her eyes wide. "Just stop it, now," she begged in fear. "Please, Wyatt, baby…"

The fear in Piper's voice snapped Wyatt out of the trance he was in and his rage faded away. He turned to Piper, then glanced back at the warlock. The color drained from his face, and he gasped in shock, "What did I do?"

Paige hurried over to Leo and bent next to him to make sure he was okay, then glanced over at Phoebe's body. "Kyle!" she called out, and the form of her husband appeared instantly. He took one look at the wounded Halliwells, and instantly began to heal them.

Wyatt stumbled over to the sofa and sunk into the cushions, his eyes still wide with horror. Piper looked at him in concern for a moment, then turned to the warlock. She regarded him for a moment, watching as he pushed himself to his feet and glared at her through the crystal cage. Her gaze hardened and she placed her hands on her hips. Her voice was low and cold when she finally spoke.

"Where is my son?"

* * *

"Look, all I'm saying is that when Chris got attacked by the demon, he went psycho on us. And now Wyatt went crazy also. Maybe we should be a little bit more…concerned...about Leo and Prue," Phoebe hissed at her sister as she eyed the others in the room apprehensively. 

Paige shrugged in reply, her eyes fixed on the stand off between Piper and the warlock trapped within the circle of crystals. Prue and Leo were both sitting on the sofa, looking a little worse for the wear, but she could only assume that that was a side effect of the attack. Kyle was standing over the Book of Shadows, flipping through the pages in an effort to ID the warlock. Pen and Mel had resumed their spot on the floor in front of the sofa, and Wyatt, subdued and still shell-shocked by his previous display of rage, leaned against the far wall, as though trying to place as much distance in between himself and the rest of his family as possible.

Phoebe huffed slightly at her youngest sister's silence and turned back to the demon.

He was still refusing to talk. Piper had threatened every possible punishment she could think of, and had actually carried out a few (the last potion she had thrown at him had looked particularly painful), but her captive just grinned wickedly at her and waited in smug silence.

They were running out of time, and without their powers, there was little they could do.

"Prue, Mel, Pen, go downstairs," Piper ordered, her eyes never leaving the warlock.

"But…" Mel started to argue, then Piper's harsh voice cut her off.

"Now!" The Halliwell matriarch's tone left little room for argument. The three younger witches got up and hurried from the room, their eyes downcast, their expressions worried.

Once they were gone, Piper walked over to the warlock and stared down at the crystals. She carelessly kicked one, sending it rolling an inch or two inward, and instantly shocking the warlock within the cage. The electricity fizzled in the air as the warlock hissed in pain and rubbed his arm where he had been electrocuted.

But he said nothing.

"Tell me where my son is," Piper spat, kicking the crystal again.

The warlock snarled in pain, but once the electricity was gone, he just laughed cruelly. "Or you will what? Vanquish me with the powers you _don't_ have?"

"What did that light do?" Leo asked, standing up and walking over to his wife. He placed a hand on her shoulder, pushing her aside, then narrowed his eyes at the warlock. "She may not have powers, but I do, and you just attacked my family. Tell me where my son is, tell me who sent you, and tell me what the light did, and I may just make your vanquish painless."

"Pain doesn't bother me," the warlock replied, smirking.

Leo lifted a hand and sent a bolt of energy at the warlock. He stumbled and fell backwards, slamming into the side of the cage and screaming as the energy electrocuted him. Then he stumbled and fell to the floor, his body smoking from the powers Leo had used on him.

He twisted sideways from his prone position on the floor and looked up at Leo through dark eyes. "You really think you can stop this?" he asked, his voice deathly quiet. "They'll see it through, mark my words. You and your family where just the first step. When the rest comes, you will fall, just like everyone else…" He pulled himself shakily to his feet and stared at Leo. "You can't win."

"What are you talking about? Who is they? What are they planning?" Paige asked, stepping forward and glaring at the warlock.

The warlock held her gaze for a beat, his eyes unreadable, then he said, "Ask Anna Carlson." And with that last cryptic comment, he closed his eyes and concentrated, and erupted into flames, leaving nothing behind but a pile of ash on the floor.

* * *

"But you're okay? The gold light didn't hurt you?" 

Prue closed her eyes for a moment, willing herself not to be angry at her father's over concern. He _was_ her father, she _had_ gotten attacked, he _should_ be worried. She should not be annoyed, she should be happy that he cared so much.

Easier said than done.

"For the millionth time, Dad," Prue replied, speaking into the cell phone, "I'm fine. Uncle Kyle healed me." She ran a hand through her hair and glanced over at her cousins, who were sitting on the wicker loveseat in the sunroom, staring at nothing in particular.

"Good, I want you to stay out of danger. Let your mother and Aunts handle this," Jason replied, raising his voice over the static of the phone. "Where are you, I can barely hear you?"

"I'm still at the Manor, Dad," Prue answered. She knew her father was at work, but she could also barely hear him. Too much static on the line.

It figured that she would get perfect reception in the Underworld, but when she was at the Manor they had to shout at each other to be heard.

"I don't know if they can, Dad," Prue answered heavily. "They don't have powers anymore, remember. What are they going to do, stare the evil to death?" Her tone was sharper than she had intended, but she was tired and scared and frustrated. Her father didn't understand about this part of her life, and no matter how hard he tried, he never would understand.

Sometimes you had to walk into danger.

Sometimes it was the only way.

"I'm allowed to worry about you, aren't I?" Jason replied. His tone was a little softer, a little more hesitant, as though he had heard the anger in Prue's voice and was unsure what to say.

"Yes," Prue replied reluctantly. She walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table, her eyes closed. She leaned her head forward, resting her forehead on the palm of her hand. "Just don't worry to much. Mom and I will be okay."

"What all is going on?" Jason asked.

"Mom didn't tell you everything?" Prue frowned slightly.

"She…she was in a rush," came Jason's reply. To his credit, he managed to say it with as little bitterness in his voice as possible. For Prue's sake, Phoebe and Jason had always tried to contain their arguments to more private locations, instead of screaming at each other in the middle of the room like some arguing couples.

Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.

"Cut her some slack, Dad," Prue snapped. "She just wants to keep you safe."

"And I just want to keep _you_ safe," Jason replied quickly. "It is a father's job to protect his daughter. It is not a wife's job to protect her husband."

"It is a person's job to protect their family," Prue shot back, her anger rapidly rising.

Jason, realizing he had broached a painful subject, one he had clearly wanted to avoid, said smoothly, "Let's not argue, Prue. This is an issue for your mother and I to work out. I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Yes, Dad, I'm fine," Prue replied somberly. She pushed her head back and opened her eyes. "I'll be okay, don't worry about me. I've got magic, I can take care of myself."

"The evil's got magic too, sweetheart," came her father's gentle reminder.

Prue laughed, it was such a Jason-thing to say. "I know, Daddy, but I've got Charmed Magic," she replied easily. "It's better than the evil's magic." She sobered almost instantly and continued, "I told you not to worry."

"I'm never going to stop worrying about you. I don't like you throwing yourself into danger."

Prue huffed in annoyance. "See, this is exactly why you and Mom are having problems. Can't you just learn to accept that this is my life?"

"Prue, that is an issue for your mother and I," Jason rebuked.

Prue rolled her eyes, even though she knew her father couldn't see the gesture. "Whatever, Dad. You just don't get it," she huffed.

"Get what?" Jason asked, confused and concerned. "Prue, what has gotten into you?" he demanded. Prue never spoke to him like that. _Never_.

"I've got magic, Dad," Prue explained in a semi-patient voice. "This is part of my life, this will always be part of my life. My job is to protect innocents, and it is more important than anything else that I do. That's why Mom doesn't want you in this part of her life. She's got a very important job to do, and you come and worry and get in the way. Can't you see people are depending on her?"

"Prue, what is wrong with you?" Jason snapped. "Did evil get to you? Why are you saying this?"

"Daddy, nothing got to me," Prue replied, yawning. "And you know I love you very much. But I've got to help Mom and everyone else stop the evil, so I've got to go. I'll talk to you later, and seriously, stop worrying about me. I'm going to be fine." And without another word, she hung up the phone.

At the other end of the line, Jason heard the telltale click of the phone shutting off, and he stared at his own phone in surprise. For a moment, he simply sat there, unsure of what to do or say, then he jumped to his feet and grabbed his coat and car keys.

Maybe he needed to pay a visit to the Manor.

* * *

"Who's Anna Carlson?" Piper demanded, glancing back and forth between her husband and sisters. Phoebe shrugged in reply and turned back to the map she was using to scry, yet again, for Chris. Leo ignored the question, his eyes closed as he concentrated on sensing for his youngest son. Only Paige answered, her eyebrows scrunched together as she thought about the question. 

"I don't know. Maybe a demon of some kind?"

"A demon with a last name?" Piper replied sarcastically. She ran a hand through her hair. "She could be a witch, though."

Wyatt broke into the conversation and said wearily, "Maybe Uncle Kyle and I should go to the Underworld and see if we can sense for Chris?"

"Actually, I should ask the Elders what they know about Anna and this other girl… Melinda, you said her name was? They might have some idea." He nodded to Wyatt, and continued, "You could go by yourself, though."

"I don't like that idea," Piper objected instantly.

"I'll go with him," Paige offered. "That way Kyle can check with the Elders, Leo can keep sensing up here, Phoebe can keep scrying, and you can look at the Book."

Piper nodded, albeit reluctantly, and cautioned, "Be careful. We have no idea what we are up against, and Paige doesn't have any witch powers." Paige and Wyatt orbed out of the attic, and Kyle prepared to orb to the Elders.

"No, you stay here," Leo said. "You sense for Chris, and I will talk to the Elders."

Piper, Phoebe, and Kyle stared at him incredulously. "What?" Piper demanded harshly. "Chris needs you!" Phoebe nodded in agreement.

Leo frowned, slightly confused. "Piper, I'm going to check with the Elders to see if they know anything about the evil that targeted Chris. I _am_ helping our son."

"But you're not going to sense for him?" Phoebe questioned. She placed the crystal on the table, knowing that it was pointless to try to find her nephew through scrying.

"Kyle can do that," Leo said, waving his hand and dismissing the concern. "Really, it isn't like I am abandoning you all. I just think it would be better if I checked with the Elders instead of Kyle. After all, I am an Elder, I need to know what is going on."

"But you are Chris' father," Kyle pointed out. "You would be able to sense him better than I can, you share the same blood."

Leo glanced back and forth between his wife and brother-in-law. "What has gotten in to you two?" he asked, confused about their objection to him checking with the Elders. "There is a serious evil out there that we need to stop. Now. Kyle and Wyatt can find Chris. I wouldn't be leaving you if I wasn't confident that you could find him. But this evil is serious, and I need to concentrate on stopping it."

And he orbed away, leaving a surprised Piper, Phoebe, and Kyle behind.

* * *

Wyatt and Paige appeared in a long passage way in the Underworld. To their left, the hall stretched out, its rough stone walls holding several torches. To the right, the hall turned into a labyrinth of smaller tunnels, each one twisting away out of sight. 

"You brought us here?" Paige asked, blinking in the dim light. "Where are we?"

"I don't know," Wyatt replied. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to sense for his brother. He could pick up a very faint signal, but he couldn't get enough of a reading to tell where exactly his brother was. He sighed, opened his eyes, and said, "Chris is somewhere down here, but I don't know where."

Paige nodded, worried. She chewed her lip, thinking over their options, then said, "Maybe we should try finding a demon contact? Someone who can help us?"

Wyatt snorted. "I don't think informing the Underworld that Chris is unconscious and helpless and somewhere in their domain is the best idea," he whispered sarcastically. "Come on, let's walk." And he started away, taking long strides.

Paige hurried after him, struggling to keep up with his quick pace. They had walked in silence for a moment, twisting their way back and forth through the many interlocking passages, when Paige broke the heavy silence and said, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

Wyatt stopped, and looked over at his youngest Aunt. He was quiet for a moment, contemplating her words, then he asked, "Are you really?"

Paige flinched and looked away from Wyatt's piercing gaze. "Of course," she snapped back.

Wyatt remained quiet for a moment, his expression thoughtful, then he asked in a tone that was filled with bitter cynicism, "And you're sure you aren't just upset that you aren't the 'cool Aunt' right now?"

Paige flinched again, but her temper flared instantly. "Wyatt Matthew Halliwell, don't use that tone with me," she reprimanded.

Wyatt stopped and turned to look at her, facing her fully. "What I don't understand, Aunt Paige, is _why_ you didn't tell me? After everything you believe about secrets, how could this one slip your mind?"

Paige stared at Wyatt for a long time, wondering how to put her thoughts into words. At last, she said, "What do you remember about the Avatars?"

Wyatt blinked. He shook his head for a moment, then said, "Not much. They tried to do something funny to the world at one point. We learned about it at Magic School, but I don't remember…"

"They used their power to feed on your father's grief. It was after Chris had died…" Paige started walking again, gesturing for Wyatt to do the same. They continued along their path, their eyes open for any sign of Chris, while Paige elaborated on her story. "He had killed an Elder, and then…"

"He what?" Wyatt demanded.

Paige frowned, remembering that they had not told Wyatt about Gideon. She licked her lips, wondering what to do, then sighed and said, "Wy… what exactly did your father tell you about Gideon?"

"He was the evil that tu-turned me," Wyatt said, stumbling slightly over the words. He flushed with fury as he continued the thought. "He ki-killed Chris," again he stumbled slightly on the words. "They stopped him, though. Mom and Dad and you and Aunt Phoebe…"

Paige nodded.

There was a silence, then Wyatt realized what she was trying to tell him. "Gideon was an Elder? I got turned by an _Elder_?"

"We believe he was trying to kill you, but he failed, and the failed attempt somehow turned you…" Paige sighed and closed her eyes briefly. "Leo killed Gideon, and then Barbas, the demon of fear, manipulated him into killing another Elder. The other Elders were suspicious, and a whole bunch of other stuff happened, which basically resulted in the Avatars appearing and tricking Leo into becoming one of them by haunting him and playing with his mind."

"Dad's an Avatar?" Wyatt gasped.

"He was," Paige replied. "He's not anymore." She smiled grimly at the memory, her eyes flashing with anger at the way they had been manipulated. "But while he was, the other Avatar's used their powers to create a Utopia…or at least, that's what they said it would be."

"But it wasn't?" Wyatt asked, not having a clue what this had to do with anything but fascinated nonetheless.

"No…" Paige drew out the syllable. "No, it wasn't. We finally managed to revert the world back to its old self, with the help of some demons and your father." She paused at a fork and glanced down the dark passage ways. "Do you sense Chris anywhere yet?" she asked, changing the subject.

Wyatt concentrated, then nodded. "He's this way," he said, pointing to the passage on the left. "But the signal is still weak, he is far away."

"We can't orb to him?" Paige questioned, not liking how long it was taking. Who knew how much danger Chris was already in…

"I don't have enough of a reading to know where to orb," Wyatt admitted. He sighed and shook his head. "I wouldn't have any reading at all if I wasn't his brother." He began to walk again, and Paige hurried after him. "You were talking about the Avatars?"

"Not really," Paige replied. "I just wanted you to get a sense of how…deranged…your father was." She let out a short breath, exhausted from simply reliving those few harrowing days. "It tore the family apart, Wyatt. Like nothing you've ever seen. We got stronger because of it, but… a lot of damage was done. You can't even begin to comprehend what it was like for us… I _saw_ Chris die."

"Of, God…" Wyatt whispered. He had not known that little detail.

"And we all saw what happened to Leo." They walked in silence for a moment, then Paige continued, "I don't agree with your mother treating Chris so protectively. I know she had his best interests at heart…we all do…but I also know that she can't protect him from everything. We learned _that _the hard way." Her voice was bitter and full of loathing for the man who had taken so much from them. If only she could bring Gideon back from the dead, she would find a way to _worse_ than vanquish him.

"Yeah," Wyatt murmured. "I get that."

"But I don't know about keeping everything about the other Chris a secret. Maybe she had the right idea," Paige said slowly. "Chris' death tore everything apart… Reliving it would only do the same. She had no idea how you would react to being evil in another life, or how Chris would react to knowing that he died. The only thing any of us knew, was that when we lost Chris, we almost lost ourselves as well."

"And you didn't want to tell us because you didn't want to run the risk of opening the old wounds?"

Paige nodded. "Those wounds barely healed the first time. God only knows that they would have done the second time around."

Wyatt accepted those words, mulling them over. "Maybe I shouldn't have been so quick to judge you all," he conceded at last.

"I think we've all said and done things we regret the past couple of days," Paige murmured.

Wyatt nodded, then said abruptly, "What happened to me?"

Paige turned confused eyes to her oldest nephew and shook her head. "What do you mean? What are you talking about?"

"At the Manor… I went psycho on the demon. It was like I had all this rage inside me, and it… he was saying all that stuff about Chris being pathetic and I just…"

"You were being protective," Paige assured Wyatt. "It is what big brothers do." But her words sounded flat and unconvincing, even to her own ears. In truth, Wyatt's reaction to the demon had terrified her. It was as though, for a moment, she had seen a glimpse of the other Chris' world.

Wyatt, sensing where Paige's mind was going, asked anxiously, "I'm not _turning_, am I?"

"Of course not," Paige said, and this time she was positive her words were the truth. "Wyatt, we stopped Gideon, we saved you. You aren't evil, and you aren't going to turn. Deep down, you _know_ that, right?"

Wyatt nodded dumbly, his eyes still full of worry and fear. "I just…I felt so out of control."

Paige frowned slightly, her eyebrows knitting together as she thought over Wyatt's words. "Maybe it had something to do with the gold light…" she mused. Wyatt stiffened next to her, and she hurriedly continued, "You aren't evil, Wy. Trust me on this. You _aren't_ evil."

"I trust you," Wyatt answered. He slanted a sideways look at his Aunt and continued, "And don't worry, you're still the cool Aunt."

Paige's face broke into a wide smile. "Good," she replied, laughin.

Wyatt suddenly stopped, his blue eyes flashing with hope. "I sense Chris," he whispered excitedly. "I've got enough of a reading to orb to him now!" He grabbed Paige and quickly orbed the two of them away.

* * *

Next Chapter: Hidden Monsters 

Due: Thursday 12/15


	16. Hidden Monsters

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. I had a few comments about Anna Carlson, so I'm going to tell everyone what I have been telling the specific reviewers. I've mentioned her once before, so you do actually know who she is, but you might have to do some detective work to find it. Ten points to anyone who can! Okay, I don't actually know what the points would get you... :) Also, this chapter gets a bit philosophical in places, and it is the first of my revelations, albeit a rather minor one. You can also see, if you read closely enough, why I named this story The Lost Future. Another ten points for that!

As always, read and review.

* * *

Chapter Fifteen: Hidden Monsters

Wyatt and Paige appeared in a small, dimly lit cave to see Chris' still form lying crumpled on the floor. Wyatt was at his side in a heartbeat, extending his hands over Chris and rapidly healing the bruises and wounds that covered his brother. A moment later, Chris groaned and slowly opened his eyes, shoving Wyatt's glowing hands away and pushing himself into a sitting position.

"Wh-what?" he murmured, his face a picture of befuddlement as he stared around the cave in confusion. "How…? Where am I?"

"Where are you?" Wyatt hissed, throwing his arms around his brother and enveloping him in a tight hold as relief flowed through his veins. "You are in the _Underworld_ where you apparently tried to take on warlock _all by yourself_. Idiot."

Chris stared at Wyatt, then jumped to his feet and cried out, "He was going to the Manor. He's going to attack Mom and Dad!" The sudden movement made him dizzy, and he stumbled, swaying unsteadily on his feet. Wyatt and Paige reached to steady him, and he sagged against them in exhaustion.

"It's okay, we took care of the warlock," Paige reassured her nephew. "Come on, we should all orb home. You've missed a lot, young man, and I am sure your parents would like to talk to you."

Chris winced slightly at the image of a furious Piper bearing down on him. He could already hear the angry reproaches of his mother (How could you do this? What on _Earth_ were you thinking? I almost had a _heart_ _attack_, Chris! Are you _trying_ to send me to an early grave?) and the long-winded reprimands of his father (Now, Chris, I understand that you are upset, but you can't just take off like this. Our strength is in our bond as a family. It is irresponsible to disappear, your mother and I were worried sick, young man. Do you understand the gravity of the situation?)

"Yeah, this is going to be _fun_," Chris scowled to himself as he orbed out after Paige and Wyatt.

* * *

"Are you out of your mind? Do you have any idea how worried we were? What was going through that head of yours, huh? Are you trying to scare the living daylights out of me? Because you are doing a very good job of it!" Piper screeched as she continued to cling tightly to her youngest son. The minute he, Wyatt, and Paige had appeared, Piper had run to Chris and thrown her arms around him, and starting yelling at the top of her lungs. Several minutes had passed, and she was still going full steam. 

"Piper, honey, I think maybe you should let go of Chris… you know, so he can breathe?" Paige suggested, a slight smile playing at the corners of her lips as she watched the uncomfortable Chris shift from foot to foot, waiting for his mother's lecture to subside.

"Yeah, Mom," Chris added, detangling himself from his mother's embrace. "Besides, you can't be mad at me right now. I almost _died_, and I'm still so _traumatized_ from the experience." He gave her his best puppy-dog look, his green eyes filled with pleading.

Wyatt, taking one look at his mother's annoyed expression, quickly turned his chuckle into a cough and fled the room. Kyle, also receiving a glare from Piper as he tried unsuccessfully to hide his laughter, decided to follow his oldest nephew's example, and ran after Wyatt.

Phoebe, who was standing to one side, watching in amusement, joined Piper in the center of the room and pulled Chris into a hug. "Traumatized, huh?" she teased.

Chris grinned and pulled away from his Aunt. "Where's Dad?" he asked, looking around the attic.

Phoebe and Piper exchanged dark looks, and Piper said forebodingly, "You've got a lot to get caught up on, Chris." She turned to Phoebe and said, "Take Paige downstairs and fill her in on Leo leaving. I'm going to tell Chris everything that's happened since he took off with Bianca."

"Everything?" Chris asked, his tone slightly suspicious.

Piper winced and replied, "We're trying a new policy. It's called the 'don't-keep-secrets-if-you-want-to-keep-your-powers' idea."

"Huh?" Chris asked, clearly not getting the reference. "What do you mean? What does this have to do with powers?"

Piper smiled sadly at him, realizing how much he had missed. The argument, the breaking of the triqueta, Wyatt disappearing, the warlock attack… "Come on, Chris," she said tiredly, leading him over to the sofa. "We've got a lot to talk about."

"Am I still in trouble?" Chris wondered as he took a seat next to his mother.

Piper looked at Chris, and he realized she was not smiling with him. His humor was lost on her; either that or she was too depressed to even make an effort to find his words funny. Instead, she said in a dull voice, "Maybe later. We'll see. Right now, we've got bigger fish to fry."

As Paige and Phoebe slipped from the attic, Piper began to narrate the events of the past couple days.

* * *

"Wait, Leo left? He just…left?" Paige repeated, blinking several times. None of what Phoebe had told her made any sense. "But…why?" 

"He didn't seem to distraught by the action," Phoebe said quietly, worry evident in her tone. "He said that it was important for him to figure out what the big evil is, and that he was confident we could find Chris without him, and he orbed away."

"But…this is _Leo_. This is the guy who refused to leave Chris' bedside when he had the chicken pox when he was three," Paige protested. Both sisters lapsed into silence, remembering that particular incident.

Piper had refused Leo's plea to let him heal Chris. All children either needed to get the vaccine, or actually have the chicken pox, and Chris was no exception. After he recovered sufficiently for his immune system to build up the necessary resistance, then Leo could heal him the rest of the way. But not a moment before.

Leo had responded to Piper's decision by spending every waking moment next to Chris' bed, practically force feeding him soup and crackers, telling him stories, and playing with stuffed animals or building blocks with him. When Paige had pointed out that she, Phoebe, or Piper could watch Chris for a while if Leo wanted a break from his fatherly duties, the Elder had been scandalized by the idea and had told them, on no uncertain terms, that he was not going to pass his responsibilities on to anyone else for even half a second.

And that had ended the discussion.

And yet…

This was the Leo that had also left them all just moments before? This was the Leo who had left his son's safety and welfare in the hands of someone else?

Something was wrong with that picture…

"Do you think it had something to do with the gold light?" Phoebe asked at last, bringing Paige out of her reverie. "Something the warlock did?"

"Maybe," Paige replied. She mused on Phoebe's words for a moment, then ventured the thought, "Chris and Wyatt were acting a little strange also."

"Prue also got hit," Phoebe cried instantly. She paled and turned worried eyes towards the sunroom where she knew Prue, Mel, and Pen were all sitting. "What if something happened to her?"

Paige and Phoebe both hurried towards their children. As they entered the sunroom, they saw Pen and Mel both sitting silently, their usually youthful and happy eyes dimmed with worry and fear. Prue was standing behind them, pacing the floor slowly, her shoes making a gentle rhythmic clunk on the floor.

"Whoa!" Mel looked up startled as the two Charmed Ones ran into the room. "Where's the demon?" she asked, looking around quickly for someone or something to attack.

"We just wanted to make sure you were okay," Phoebe said, staring at her daughter oddly. "You aren't feeling anything…different, are you? Violent anger? Total indifference?"

"What?" Prue questioned, her face scrunched together in confusion as she stared back at her mother. "No, I'm not. Annoyance at Dad, however…" she added as an afterthought. Off Phoebe's puzzled look, she said, "He called to make sure I was okay."

"He is your father," Mel spoke up abruptly, rolling her eyes. "That's what he's supposed to do."

"I know, but he's overbearing about it," Prue replied, throwing herself on to the sofa and glaring out through the windows. "I can take care of myself okay."

Phoebe opened her mouth to say something, but Pen cut her off. "Any luck finding Chris yet?" she asked hopefully, her brown eyes filled with worry.

"Yes, we found him," Paige replied to her daughter. "He's upstairs right now. Talking to Piper."

Before the sentence was even entirely finished, Pen, Mel, and Prue had pushed past their mothers and charged up the stars towards the attic, intent of seeing for themselves that Chris was back and safe.

* * *

"…and then, the warlock said something about a girl…Anna some-thing? Anna Carlson? And then he vanquished himself," Piper explained, finishing the story just as the door to the attic slammed open and Mel, Pen, and Prue skidded to a stop at the sight of Chris. 

"Chris!" Mel cried, hurrying forward and throwing her arms around the older witch-lighter. Prue and Pen both waited for their turns, then they too hugged Chris, relived to see him back and uninjured.

Chris shifted uncomfortably as his three cousins stared at him. He smiled at Prue, but avoided Pen or Mel's eyes and turned back to his mother. "He vanquished himself?" he questioned, echoing her earlier words.

Piper nodded. She and Paige exchanged a brief glance, neither had missed Chris purposefully avoiding looking at Mel and Pen, and the action bothered them. Chris loved his younger cousins a lot, and they assumed he would be ecstatic to see them after everything that had happened.

_They_ were obviously quite pleased to see _him_.

"Why?" Chris questioned quietly, his eyes fixed determinedly on his mother. He licked his dry lips and shifted from one foot to the other.

"Not a clue," Piper replied glumly. "Maybe we should ask Anna Carlson."

A strange light flickered through Chris' eyes at the mention of the name, but he buried It quickly. "Who?" he asked, forcing his tone to be light as he questioned his mother.

"That's the problem," Paige said despairingly, taking a seat next to her oldest sister on the sofa and staring around the room at the others. "We haven't got a clue. Does the name mean anything to you?"

There was an infinitesimally small pause, then Chris replied readily, "No, it doesn't." He looked briefly at the others in the room, then frowned. "Where's Uncle Kyle and Uncle Jason?" he asked in confusion. For something as big as this, the entire family normally got together…well, not Jason, but definitely Kyle.

And Leo.

So where were they?

"Leo's still checking with the Elders," Phoebe remarked sarcastically. She glanced over at Prue and said, "And I assume that your father is still at work?"

"Last I checked," came Prue's indifferent response.

Paige shot a look at Phoebe. It was unlike Prue to speak so uninterestedly of her father. That combined with her earlier comment about Jason being overbearing… Something was definitely not right.

But Phoebe simply met Paige's gaze with her own concerned look, having no answer to give to the silent question.

"Paige, can you orb up to Elder Land and ask Leo what the Elders know?" Piper asked, her tone dripping with honey that only barely concealed her annoyance at his disappearance. "And maybe drag him back with you? Inform him that his son is here?" Piper's chocolate eyes narrowed icily.

Paige nodded and orbed away. A silence fell over the room for a second, then Phoebe said bluntly to Piper, "What's up with Paige and Kyle? They haven't been in the same room for more than a few minutes…"

"Phoebe!" Piper hissed, shooting a brief look at Pen and Mel. She gave a sharp jerk of her head to indicate not to speak about this in front of Paige's children, and Phoebe flushed guiltily, realizing her mistake.

But Pen spoke up softly, "We aren't blind, Aunt Piper. Even if you don't talk about it in front of us, we know Mom and Dad are having issues." Pen and Prue exchanged a brief glance, each thinking the same thing: children were always so much more perceptive than their parents gave them credit for.

Piper opened her mouth to respond the Pen's comment, and then found she had nothing to say. An uneasy silence filled the room for a moment, and Piper noticed with increasing concern that Chris was still avoiding looking at his young twin cousins. Pen and Mel both exchanged a questioning glance, each wondering why they were being ignored. Prue watched Chris through guarded eyes, pointedly ignoring her mother's questioning stare.

A sharp rap at the door below caused Piper to jolt from her silence and walk over to the window. She pulled back the curtains and stared at the pavement below, a frown creasing her forehead. "It's Jason," she said, glancing over at Phoebe.

Phoebe raised an eyebrow and said, "Alright, I'll go see if everything's okay with him. Prue? Can you come with me?" Maybe it was time for a short family meeting. Just to make sure they were still all on the same page.

Prue followed her mother from the room after casting one more concerned look at her older cousin.

"I'm going to continue checking the Book for information on the warlock," Piper announced, walking over to the family heirloom. She opened the cover and continued, "Chris, can you call Daryl and see if he has anything on an Anna Carlson? Then maybe you and Mel and Pen can start…"

"Actually, I have to talk to Wyatt about something," Chris said abruptly, cutting his mother off and hurrying towards the door. Without another look at the people in the room, he shoved the door open and disappeared down the stairs.

There was an uncomfortable silence in the room as Piper frowned at the spot her son had stood moments before. Finally, she said, "Mel? Pen? Maybe you guys could help me look through the Book?"

Pen smiled slightly at her Aunt, knowing Piper was only trying to distract from the blatantly obvious fact that Chris was avoiding them. Mel, however, shook her head and replied, "I'm going to go see what's up with Chris."

"Mel, I don't think that is such a good idea," Pen hissed.

But Mel was not easily dissuaded. She left the room determinedly, ignoring her twin's protests.

Pen walked over to Piper and stared at the page of the Book Piper was reading. "Any luck, Aunt Piper?" she asked quietly, her eyes far too serious for her thirteen-year-old face. Piper was instantly struck by the gravity in her niece's expression. The teenager should be worried about sneaking past her parents at night, flirting with boys, and the latest styles to wear. Not demons and innocents and death.

When had everyone in her family become so grown up?

And how much more would magic continue to take from the family?

Piper turned wearily back to the Book and shook her head slowly. "Nothing yet, Pen," she said quietly. Nothing yet.

The two stood side by side in silence, staring at the entries as Piper flipped through the pages.

* * *

"She was acting funny," Jason said in an undertone, watching as Prue threw herself carelessly onto the sofa. He shook his head, still not believing that the girl he had spoken to on the phone had been his daughter. 

"Funny, how?" Phoebe asked quietly, her eyes wide with worry. Everyone who had been hit by the light was acting different, her daughter was no exception. But they still had no idea what the light did, or how to change it.

"Just...funny," Jason replied. "Like she didn't care..." He paused and shook his head. "No, not like she didn't care, more like she cared too much."

"What?" Phoebe questioned, raising an eyebrow. She had thought Prue was acting indifferent to everything, but Jason said she cared too much? How was that even possible?

"She cared only about magic," Jason explained, seeing the confusion on his wife's face. "When I told her I was worried, when I told her to be careful, she said that all that mattered was stopping the evil." He frowned again and rubbed his eyes, thinking back to the earlier conversation. "Well, not in so many words, but that's what she implied."

"What exactly did she say?" Phoebe asked, searching for something, _anything_, that would give her a clue as to what was wrong with her daughter.

"She said that it was her job to protect innocents, and it was more important than anything else she would ever do and that I just didn't understand that," Jason answered. "Every time I worry I just get in the way." He glanced over at Phoebe and saw the surprise in her eyes. She too was stunned by Prue's comment, although Jason had the sinking suspicion that she probably agreed with it.

"She said that?" Phoebe asked, still unable to comprehend what she had seen and heard. Her daughter? Her daughter said that?

"Phoebe," Jason murmured, fear filling his chest as he turned his eyes back to his daughter, "What's happening to Prue?"

To which Phoebe had no answer.

* * *

Paige orbed back into the attic, a unsettled expression on her face. "Leo's still in a meeting with the Elders," she said the instant Piper looked up. "He left orders not to be disturbed unless someone was dying." 

Piper stared disbelievingly at her sister then snarled, "I swear, he is lucky I don't have my powers or I'd…"

"Is that him?" Pen asked abruptly, breaking into the conversation as she leaned forward and placed her hand on the entry Piper had just flipped to. Piper leaned over the page while Paige hurried over to the Book and stared at the picture of the warlock.

"That's him," Piper murmured, staring at the dark sneering eyes in the illustration. "And the picture captured him quite well. Right down to the arrogance."

"What does it say?" Paige asked, unable to read the description as she was facing the Book upside down. "Who is he?"

Piper scanned the entry. "His name is Latere," she replied.

"What?" Pen asked, standing on her tiptoes to see the picture. "What's that mean?"

"It's Latin," a voice said, and Kyle appeared in the doorway. He walked into the attic, his face grave. "Latere means 'to lurk, or to lie hidden.' He's a very powerful warlock, and one that hasn't really been active for a few thousand years."

"Well he seemed pretty active to me," Piper remarked sardonically. "What do you know about him?" she continued, glancing over at Kyle. "The entry doesn't say what he does."

Kyle bit his lip, trying to remember. "It's been a while since I heard the name," he explained as Piper and Paige waited rather impatiently for him to speak. "If I remember correctly, he has the power to sway attributes."

"Huh?" Pen asked, crossing her arms and staring up at her father. She shifted her weight nervously, sensing the tension between her parents, and noting the way that Paige hardly looked at Kyle for more than a moment.

Kyle elaborated, "People have many attributes. Some are more developed than others. Latere has the ability to change the balance, if you will. He brings out the attributes that lay hidden, the good and the bad."

"Chris' independence, Wyatt's ruthlessness, Leo's dedication to the 'Greater Good,' Prue's…" Piper broke off and glanced at Kyle. "What did he bring out in Prue?"

Kyle shrugged. "I don't know…" He closed his eyes for a moment, thinking. "If we assume that the warlock is part of everything else that has been happening, then…" He broke off, color draining from his face as he realized what he was about to say. "Whoever is behind this planned it out to the letter." He began to pace, his steps forceful and angry. "They gave Chris a potion that returned some memories but mostly feelings and emotions. Then, with those partial fragments of the other Chris in him, when the warlock attacked… It brought out all the attributes of the other Chris. The untrusting, self-reliant, independent, neurotic…"

"And then Wyatt, who had just been told who he was, got hit with the light as well," Piper continued the train of thought, "and the ruthless aspects of his personality came out."

"But Wyatt was _turned_," Paige pointed out. "Latere doesn't have the power to turn him again. And Chris… The other Chris wouldn't have attacked Piper, Phoebe, Bianca, and I, but he did when he first got back."

Kyle nodded. "Wyatt isn't evil. But one of the reasons evil was able to get a hold on him was because he had that predisposition towards brutality when his family was threatened. All that power in him… I'll bet you anything the point were he truly turned in the other timeline was after the death of a loved one." He met Piper's eyes for a moment, and said quietly, "Like his mother."

Piper swallowed and sucked in a sharp breath. Several years ago, when Chris was sixteen, she had confronted her father about what the other Chris had told him, and demanded to know when she had died in the other timeline. She had been relieved to discover that she had died when Chris was fourteen, and that she had lived past that day in this timeline.

But if she had died around the time Wyatt was sixteen, and if Wyatt had also started turning around that time…

"Only Chris knows for certain what happened," Kyle continued quietly, his eyes still boring into Piper's. "And we don't know if he has those memories or not. But still, I'd wager anything that your death was the trigger."

"So Wyatt discovers that he was evil, the warlock attacks, and that happens to bring out the very aspect of his personality that helped turn him? _Ironic_," Pen mused.

"It's the same with Leo," Kyle added. "Our…conflict…brought back memories of what he had been told he was like in the other timeline." Piper flushed with embarrassment at Kyle's words, regretting all the horrible comments she had thrown at Leo in her own anger and frustration. Kyle, however, ignored Piper's guilt and continued, "Then the warlock hits him with the light and he just reverts back into the person he was so afraid of becoming…" He glanced over at Pen, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "Ironic is right."

Piper gave a dark laugh that ended almost as soon as it had begun. "No kidding," she hissed, her hands balled into fists at her side. "I swear, I'll find a way to bring him back from the dead just to vanquish him!"

"But that still doesn't explain why Chris threw us across the room," Paige argued again, glancing from her sister to her daughter to her husband.

"Chris was more affected than any of the others because he had bits of the other Chris in him," Kyle explained wearily. He walked over to the sofa and sank into it, and Pen instantly took the seat next to him, leaning her head against his side. "He was probably confused and shaken up by what happened, and since he was so disoriented, he lashed out. Once he had time to think and to process everything, he settled down again. He hasn't tried to attack you anymore, has he?"

Paige accepted the explanation, nodding to herself. "What about Prue?" she asked. "What did he do to her?"

"That one is a bit harder to tell," Kyle replied. "Since we don't know anything about what Prue was like in the other timeline. Also, unlike Chris, Wyatt, or Leo, she doesn't know anything about what she was like either, so there was nothing to direct which attributes would come out."

"The warlock was probably just taking a gamble on her," Piper said thoughtfully.

"But that would mean that the warlock knew something about her other self that we don't," Paige pointed out.

"Well, they seem to know everything else about us," Piper said gloomily. "Wouldn't surprise me if they knew that also."

"Maybe they have a way of watching us," Paige suggested. "Like those magical cameras in the reality game…remember? Where the demons hunted the witches? What was it called?"

"Witch Wars," Piper replied automatically, remembering the incident Paige was referring to. She glanced over at Kyle and asked, "So should we expect everyone to revert to the way they were in the other timeline?"

"No," Kyle replied, shaking his head. "It isn't just these attributes that make people who they are, it is their experiences as well. For Chris to really become the other Chris, for Leo to really become the other Leo, for Wyatt to really turn, they would all have to live through everything that happened in the other timeline. And that other future is dead, lost. We can't ever get it back."

"So they'll all be the way they were but in lesser degrees?" Paige asked. Kyle nodded, and the four of them lapsed into silence.

"Then why is this happening?" Pen asked finally, sitting up and glancing around at everyone else in the room. "Why is Latere…or whoever it was that sent him…why are they doing this? What's the ultimate plan? If Dad is right, and they can't turn Wyatt, if they can't bring back the hell world, then it couldn't be that…"

Another silence met those words. No one had an answer to give.

"We still have the issue of the girl Wyatt saw," Paige said at last. "Melinda."

"Not to mention those dark-lighter attacks," Kyle added.

"And Anna Carlson," Paige pointed out.

"Well, whatever is going on, it has something to do with the other timeline, right?" Pen said. All eyes turned to her, and she continued, "Maybe we should talk to Chris. Have him tell us everything he remembers. Maybe things will be clearer then?"

"That's a good idea. And meanwhile, we need to reverse what Latere did," Piper agreed, nodding at Pen. Pen smiled at the praise and Piper turned to Kyle. "Do you know how to reverse it?"

"No," Kyle said wearily.

Piper frowned at him, puzzled as to why he continued to sit there. "Well then, check with the Elders," Piper instructed, rolling her eyes as though it was obvious. He was their white-lighter after all, that is what he did.

"No, you don't understand," Kyle replied, defending his previous statement. "It isn't that I don't know how to undo what Latere did, it is that it _can't_ be undone. That's what makes Latere so powerful," Kyle explained, his eyes shadowed with apprehension and worry. He looked over at Paige, held her gaze for a beat, then said softly, "You can't undo it. What's done is done."

* * *

"Chris?" 

Chris and Wyatt both turned at the sound of Mel's voice in the doorway. They had been sitting in Chris' room, talking about pretty much nothing when their cousin appeared and interrupted.

"Yeah?" Chris asked, looking at a spot slightly over Mel's head and to the right.

"Why are you avoiding Pen and I?" Mel demanded, deciding not to beat around the bush.

Wyatt raised his eyebrows at Chris, confused. He had left the attic long before Mel and Pen had arrived, so he had not been witness to Chris' strange behavior. He turned concerned eyes to his younger brother, wondering what was going on.

"I'm not," Chris replied determinedly. "I'm talking to you now, aren't I?"

"And in the attic?" Mel asked quietly. "What was that? Where we just invisible?"

"Of course not!" Chris snapped. "I hugged you and everything." He folded his arms over his chest and glared at Mel, or rather, at the spot above her head.

Wyatt, sensing that something was obviously wrong, but that Mel probably wasn't going to get answers with him standing there, said, "You know, I'm going to go see what Mom is up to." He got up and left the room, patting Mel on the shoulder and giving her a reassuring look as he did so.

"Tell me what is going on," Mel ordered.

Chris' eyes involuntarily snapped to the young witch-lighter's face. He rarely heard her use that tone, the one that reminded everyone that she was a member of the next generation of Charmed Ones, that she was powerful, and that she was not to be messed with. But he had known her since she was born, and he knew under Mel's carefree and giddy composure, a very serious, very strong-willed woman resided.

"Nothing is going on," Chris lied, shaking his head and turning away from Mel. "It's just been a really long couple of days and I'm tired." He walked over to his bed and sat down on it, staring out the window. It seemed like so long ago that he had blown up the pillows in his room and orbed away from a disproving Phoebe. So long ago that he had received the vision of proposing to Bianca, the vision that had sent him down this crazy path to start with.

Had it really only been a couple days?

"You're lying," Mel snapped. "Lying is what got us in this mess. Tell me the truth." She crossed the room and placed a hand on Chris' arm, resisting the urge to yell at him as he flinched away from her touch. "Did we do something?" she asked in a softer voice.

Chris laughed bitterly, and shook his head. "This isn't about you, Mel," he said coolly, still refusing to look at her. "This has nothing to do with you."

"Gee, why don't I believe you?" Mel retorted sarcastically, rolling her eyes at Chris' refusal to talk. "Obviously something is bothering you. Let us help."

"I can handle it on my own," Chris murmured. "It isn't important, anyway. We've got demons to vanquish."

Mel blinked. "Demons can wait, Chris."

"No, they can't," Chris protested. "We've got Wiccan duties, we can't just ignore them." He chanced a glance at Mel and saw the confusion written over her young face.

"Chris, what has gotten into you?" Mel demanded, placing her hands on her hips and glaring at him.

"Ignoring what was happening in the Underworld is why the other future happened," Chris said dully. "I just don't want us to have a repeat of that."

"We aren't going to," Mel reassured him quietly. "My mom and yours and Aunt Phoebe prevented that." She ran a hand through her hair, pushing a strand out of her dark eyes and tilted her head back, regarding Chris thoughtfully. "Look, I obviously don't know what the other timeline was like, but…"

Whatever she was going to say was cut off as Chris jumped to his feet abruptly and snarled, "No, you don't." He pushed past her and walked towards the door, but Mel lifted a hand and telekinetically slammed it shut. Chris whirled around to face her and asked in annoyance, "Why can't you just accept that everything is fine?"

"Because it clearly isn't," Mel replied pointedly. "Why won't you look at me for more than a few seconds at a time?"

"Because I killed them for you!" Chris spat, his words harsh and filled with self-loathing.

"What?" Mel asked, completely lost. "What do you mean? Who did you kill?"

"Patricia and Adam," Chris replied, yanking the chair from his desk out and flopping onto it.

"I'm still lost," Mel said.

Chris regarded her for a moment, then shook his head in frustration. "Never mind, it doesn't matter. I shouldn't even be talking to you about this anyway."

"Well, you started already, so finish the thought," Mel instructed. "Who are Patricia and Adam?"

For a moment, it seemed as though Chris was not going to answer. Finally, he said in a choked voice, "Aunt Paige's children."

Mel sucked in a sharp breath, her eyes widening in comprehension. "Pen and I didn't exist in the other timeline?"

"Aunt Paige was married to a guy named Richard," Chris said slowly. "She had two children, Patricia, otherwise known as Ria, and Adam. Ria was three years younger than me and Adam was five years younger. They existed and I _erased_ them. For you and Pen."

Mel swallowed and looked away, unnerved by the revelation. She hadn't existed in the other timeline. Her mother had been married to someone else. She hadn't been a part of this family. She hadn't _existed_.

Chris continued talking quietly, unaware of his cousin's train of thought, unaware of what his words were doing to her. "I mean, how did I know that was the right thing to do?" Chris rambled. "Saving Wyatt was great and all, but Ria and Adam… I don't think they would thank me for it. I wrote them completely out of… I worse than killed them! And what if it was wrong? What if they weren't supposed to… How could I decide who gets to be born and who… What if I screwed everything up? I mean, I erased them for you! How did I know that was the right thing? God, Mel, what if you and Pen weren't supposed to exist?"

Mel's breath caught in her throat as her heart momentarily stopped beating.

_Weren't supposed to exist…

* * *

_

Next Chapter: Withdrawn

Due: Sunday 12/18


	17. Withdrawn

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's Note: Clifford Geertz is an anthropologist, and the quote of his I use in the story is from his paper: "The Impact of the Concept of Culture on the Concept of Man." Some of this repeats what Kyle already said about the warlock previously, but I wanted to make sure that my idea was clear (and they had to explain it all to the rest of the family). So I apologize for any repetition.

* * *

Chapter Sixteen: Withdrawn

Piper reached the door to her youngest son's room just as it was yanked open and Mel came running out. The young witch-lighter's face was streaked with tears, and she pushed past her aunt and out onto the landing. Kyle, Paige, and Pen were coming down the stairs after Piper, and the three of them froze at the sight of Mel in tears.

Paige was the first to snap out of the trance. "Mel?" she asked, hurrying towards her daughter. "What's wrong? Are you okay? Did something happen?"

Mel wiped the tears out of her eyes and shrugged, trying her best to appear indifferent. "I'm fine, Mom," she replied. "Just…" the sentence drifted off as Mel realized she had nothing to say. Nothing that could explain what she had just heard, and how she felt.

"Did Chris say something?" Pen asked, placing a hand on her twin's shoulder. Mel shrugged off Pen's hand and shook her head, looking away, and Pen found herself suddenly furious. She turned and marched into Chris' room, intent on finding out what exactly her cousin had said that had gotten to Mel like that.

When she entered the room, however, she was halted in her tracks by the sight of a morose looking Chris, sitting on his bed, staring out the window at the backyard. His dark hair fell sloppily over his weary eyes, giving him a worn out and defeated look.

"Chris?" Piper had come into the room after Pen and was staring at her son in surprise.

Chris turned sharply and gazed at his mother. "What?" he asked lifelessly, his thoughts still on the irrevocable changes he had made to people's lives.

"What did you say to Mel?" Pen demanded, her hands on her hips. "You drove her to tears!"

Chris blinked, confused. He was still so wrapped up in his own pain, he had no idea how upset Mel had been. "Wh-what?"

Piper, noting the raw hurt in Chris' eyes, derailed her young niece, saying, "Pen, why don't you go and check on Mel? Then can you get everyone into the attic? We need to tell them what we found out about the warlock."

Pen acquiesced, albeit ungracefully, and stomped from the room, still intent on giving Chris a piece of her mind when she got the chance.

"What's wrong, peanut?" Piper asked, sitting down on the bed across from Chris and watching him shift slowly to look at her.

"Nothing," Chris replied. "Just…still a little disoriented." He looked away again, back at through the window. "I'm fine."

"Don't give me that," Piper replied, her voice tinged with impatience. "You are clearly not fine." Chris turned and looked at her again, his expression firm, but unreadable. He held her gaze, refusing to say anything, and Piper sighed in frustration.

"You found who the warlock was?" Chris asked at last, breaking the uneasy silence that had fallen.

"Yes," Piper answered readily. "We did."

"Well? Who was he?" Chris asked, raising an eyebrow at his mother.

Piper smiled grimly, the corners of her lips turning ever so slightly upwards. "You answer my question, I'll answer yours."

Chris rolled his eyes and stood up abruptly. "Look, Mom, I appreciate the concern, but really, I'm _fine_." He bit off the last word, glaring at his mother.

Piper tilted her head to one side, eyeing Chris appraisingly, clearly not convinced by his words. Inside, she was a mass of confused and contradictory emotions. Although she was more than thrilled to have her son back and safe, she wished there was something she could do to get rid of that look in his eyes.

The look that said no matter what the problem was, he would deal with it on his own.

The look she had seen so many times in the other Chris's eyes.

And with that thought, she found herself, yet again, acknowledging that there were actually two separate Chris'. That all the years she had maintained that the neurotic Chris ahd been reborn into her own Chris, she had been wrong. That Leo had been right, and that… But that meant that one of them had… The other Chris was…

Dead.

Even after all these years, she could not bring herself to say it.

Dead.

"Mom?" Chris' voice jolted her out of her thoughts, and she glanced up at her youngest son. "I'm going up to the attic. I'll be there when you gather everyone else to tell us about the warlock." And he was gone, closing the door behind him.

* * *

"Mel?" Pen asked, approaching her twin. Mel was sitting on a stool in the kitchen, staring at the floor, blinking back tears. "You okay?" 

Kyle and Paige were there as well, standing next to Mel, trying to get her to tell them why she was so upset. Paige looked up as Pen entered and shot her daughter an apprehensive smile. Kyle, his attention focused solely on Mel, barely acknowledged Pen's entrance.

"I'm fine," Mel sniffed. She glanced over at Pen and tried to smile, but all that she could manage was a grimace.

"No, you aren't. What's wrong?" Kyle pressed.

Mel glanced up at her father and briefly wondered how to tell him that he was not actually married to Paige in the other timeline. Then she wondered whether or not that meant he was still alive in the other timeline. He might consider that to be a plus, even if he wasn't with Paige.

Although she had never experienced it herself, she had heard that death was no so pleasant.

"Mel?"

Mel glanced over at Pen, and blinked, suddenly realizing she couldn't tell them Chris' revelation. She could never tell them, because she couldn't tell Pen. She couldn't tell her sister, could even bear to think about the pain that would appear in her sister's eyes at the explanation… No, this was something she would need to keep a secret.

Pen could never know.

"I'm fine," Mel said with finality, pushing herself off the stool. She glanced over at Pen. "Did you and Aunt Piper discover anything in the Book?"

Pen stared at her sister for a beat, worry and bewilderment in her eyes. But Mel stared back at her defiantly, refusing to answer the unasked question, and Pen sighed inwardly, knowing that arguing would be of no use. She turned to her parents and said, "Aunt Piper wants us all to meet in the attic so she can tell everyone what we know about Latere."

At that moment, orbs suddenly appeared in the air and coalesced to form Leo, who looked around expectantly. Paige and Kyle just stared at the Elder in confusion, as though surprised to see him in the house. Mel and Pen glanced over at their uncle, then to their parents, waiting for the inevitable yelling to start.

And sure enough…

"Leo Wyatt, what on Earth were you thinking, leaving like that?" Paige screeched, her hands on her hips. "Chris needed you, and you took off! And when he came back he expected you to be here and you weren't…"

"Wait, Chris is back?" Leo interrupted, hope appearing briefly on his face. Without waiting for a response from anyone, he closed his eyes and, concentrating on his son, orbed away.

Paige stood there, stock-still, staring agape at the place Leo had stood. Her mouth opened and closed a few times, but no sound came out. After a moment, however, she seemed to find her voice and gave a dry chuckle. Turning to look at her bewildered family, she said, "I'd hate to be Leo when Piper realizes he's back."

* * *

"Chris?" Leo asked as he appeared in the attic. Chris was standing by the Book, flipping through the pages. Piper had just appeared in the attic doorway, and her countenance darkened as she saw Leo, but Leo did not notice. He hurried towards his son and pulled him into an embrace. "Oh, thank God," he murmured. 

"What are you so relieved about?" Piper snapped angrily as she entered the room. "You didn't seem to care so much before!"

Leo turned to his wife and shook his head, still unsure why she was so upset by his decision to check with the Elders instead of look for Chris. "Piper, of course I cared! I would have never left if I didn't think that Chris was in good hands. But I have another job as well, you know. I had to check with the other Elders!" He turned to Chris. "Chris understands that, don't you?"

"Of course," Chris replied. He had allowed himself to be hugged by his father, but once Leo had let go, he had gone back to the Book. He hardly looked up at his parents, still scanning the entries.

Piper studied Chris closely. His rely had seemed genuine enough, he really hadn't minded that Leo wasn't there. But this was not the Chris she had raised. This was the independent Chris, the one who solved all his own problems. Even if he had a problem, he would never have admitted to it.

"Guys?" Phoebe asked as she walked into the attic, followed by Jason, Wyatt and Prue. "What's going on?" She glanced back and forth between Piper and Leo. Even without her empathy power she could feel the tension in the room…Wait.

Leo?

"You're back," Phoebe commented coolly, staring at Leo in disbelieving annoyance. Wyatt raised an eyebrow at Phoebe, surprised at her cold tone, and turned to his father.

Before Leo could respond, Paige, Kyle, and the twins orbed into the attic. Mel had dried her eyes, and although they still looked a little bloodshot, they seemed slightly brighter and less depressed. Paige and Kyle separated almost as soon as they appeared, taking opposite sides of the room. Pen, her eyes clouded with worry, glanced back and forth between her parents and her sister, unsure what to do.

"Why don't we start this powwow, okay?" Paige said at last. She turned to Piper with a nod and continued, "Do you want to tell them about Latere or should I?"

* * *

"Latere failed," the demon snapped angrily. 

The Seer watched the demon quietly, her face impassive. She had rarely seen the demon this angry, but he was seething with fury now. "He did not fail. He did what we hired him to do."

"He was caught," the demon replied pointedly.

"But he did not reveal anything," the Seer countered.

"But he was vanquished," the demon snapped.

"But he finished his task before he vanquished himself," the Seer replied. She turned away from the demon and stared at her pool. Waving a hand over the dark water, she stared at the image of the girl…of Melinda. "We don't need him anymore. We have something better."

The demon sighed and nodded slowly, agreeing. "We need to organize the dark-lighter's again," he said quietly. "We need to distract them so they don't get to close to the truth."

"It doesn't matter if they discover the truth," the Seer pointed out. "As long as we can keep them from stopping us."

"Easier said than done," the demon answered back.

The Seer turned and looked at him, a strange light in her eyes. "I've seen the future," she murmured. "I've seen the fight."

"Do we win?" the demon demanded.

"That I have not seen," the Seer admitted. "The ending of the battle eludes me, I cannot quite grasp it." She turned back to the image in her pool. "They make so many sacrifices for the Greater Good," she mused, waving her hand and turning the water black. "And they will continue to make so many more."

"What did you see?" the demon pressed.

The Seer frowned and answered cryptically, "Suffering."

* * *

"I don't get it," Wyatt said slowly, shaking his head and staring from his mother to Kyle. "What do you mean, the warlock messed with our attributes?" The blonde witch-lighter ran a hand through his short hair, shifting nervously from foot to foot as he surveyed the others in the room. Deep inside, panic and fear were starting to twist his stomach into knots. Would he turn evil again? 

It was Leo who answered the question. "Have any of you ever heard of the anthropologist Clifford Geertz?"

"No," came the unanimous reply.

Leo nodded and explained, "He had a very famous quote. In an article he wrote about the ideas of culture and man, he said that, 'One of the most significant facts about us may finally be that we all begin with the natural equipment to live a thousand kinds of life but end in the end having lived only one.'"

"Okay, and in English that means…?" Phoebe asked, too mentally drained to try and figure out what Leo was saying.

Leo frowned and elaborated, "We all have the ability to live a million different lives, but, based on our decisions, we end up only having lived one." He looked back and forth between the rest of his family and asked, "You all with me so far?"

"Yes," Piper said, gesturing for him to continue, trying to ignore the fact that she was still mad at him.

"However, even if we don't end up living a particular life, we still have the potential for that life in us. This Chris still has the qualities of the other Chris, and so forth," Leo continued. He began pacing across the floor, his expression unusually grave.

"So how does this figure in to everything that has been going on?" Chris asked, just as lost as his brother had been.

"Despite the fact that we did not make the choices and live through the same events of the other timeline, the fundamental person we are is still unchanged," Phoebe said, realization dawning on her features. "It isn't the actions that make us who we are, it is what we've got inside."

"I'm still lost," Mel said, rubbing her tired eyes. "Can you go over that one more time?"

"Look at it this way," Pen piped up. "The other Chris was secretive and neurotic. This version of him is less secretive and less neurotic. But he still has the predisposition to be secretive and neurotic because it is part of who he was, and who he is now. The fundamental traits and qualities of all of us are the same, regardless of the timeline. Different events may bring out different primary characteristics, but all the secondary characteristics are still there, and can still be brought to the surface."

Prue looked up from her spot on the sofa and said, "That was why it was so easy for Chris to lie to us for two years about dating Bianca. Being secretive is part of who he is, no matter the world he lives in. It was more pronounced in the other future, but it is still in him in this one." She scowled at Chris in mock anger, emphasizing the comment about lying about Bianca.

"And the warlock brought out the characteristics that were most pronounced in the other timeline?" Phoebe asked. She shook her head, frowning. "Why those specific ones?"

It was Leo who answered again. "Because that was the timeline we were thinking about at the time of the attack. Had we all been thinking about the timeline when Piper and I were divorced and had a daughter then maybe we would have ended up with those..."

"And we can't undo it?" Phoebe asked with an apprehensive look at her daughter.

Kyle shook his head glumly. "No, we can't." He looked at everyone in the room and said seriously, "We are just going to have to learn how to work past it."

Leo, Chris, Prue, and Wyatt all exchanged a dark glance. Although they understood everything that had been said, they also knew that it was much easier said than done. They could not feel anything different inside them, and had no idea how to prevent it from taking control when it did come bubbling to the surface.

After all, these characteristics _were_ part of who they were.

"What's the point?" Paige asked at last, breaking the uneasy silence that had fallen. "Why did the warlock do this?"

"Well, that I've got an answer to," Leo said. "Sort of…" he amended as all eyes turned towards him. "The warlock was definitely a hired gun. So were the dark-lighters. Someone sent them after us."

"That's your answer?" Phoebe asked, raising an eyebrow. "That doesn't tell us anything!"

"The Elders have also sensed a shift in magic," Leo continued.

"Like someone's reorganizing the Underworld?" Piper demanded. "You told us that they didn't sense anything!"

"No, you don't understand," Leo explained patiently. "They sensed a shift in all magic, not just evil magic."

A silence met those words, then Pen asked, "What does that mean? How does all magic shift?"

To which Leo answered honestly, "I have no idea."

"And we still don't know anything about Anna Carlson or Melinda?" Phoebe questioned. She glanced over at Chris. "Do either of those names mean anything to you? People from the other timeline, maybe?"

Chris shook his head slowly. "No, I don't recognize them."

"Did anyone check with Daryl to see if he knew who Anna Carlson was?" Piper asked. When no one responded, she said, "I guess I'll do that this evening."

"Do we still think this is somehow tied to the other timeline?" Jason asked, speaking up for the first time since the powwow had started.

"I don't know," Piper admitted. "But it seems plausible." She glanced over at Chris. "You need to tell us everything you remember. Whatever memories were restored…" She looked over at Prue. "Maybe that way we can figure out what the warlock did to Prue."

"Remind me again why only some of Chris' memories were returned?" Prue asked, meeting Piper's gaze.

"Because if he had all of his memories of the other timeline, he would be able to keep the two distinct in his mind. With only feelings and a few memories, everything was jumbled together in his memory, and it made him an easy target for Latere," Leo replied. All eyes turned to him and he shrugged. "That's my theory, anyway."

"Whoever is behind this really planned it well, didn't they?" Wyatt said gloomily.

"Why don't we all go home and get some sleep?" Phoebe said quietly. "We can look at this all tomorrow with a fresh mind. Maybe we'll discover something that we didn't see before?"

"Good idea," Piper agreed. "I'll talk to Daryl and fill you all in tomorrow. Chris can tell us about the other timeline then as well."

Chris stared morosely at the floor, not wanting to dwell on all that had happened and everything that he had done. Everything he had changed.

"You alright, Chris?" Leo asked, seeing the pain-filled look on his son' face.

"I'm fine," Chris replied automatically, giving Leo a fake smile.

"You're doing it again," Wyatt accused, narrowing his eyes at his brother. At Chris' confused look, he elaborated, "The whole withdrawn, independent, secretive thing. You're doing it again. We're supposed to be fighting it."

Chris swallowed and nodded in acknowledgement of Wyatt's words. "I can't help it," he said at last. "It's just…" He shrugged, unable to find the right words and looked away. "It's just who I am, I guess," he finished wearily. Unable to meet anyone's gaze, he orbed out of the room.

Piper watched her son go, her heart heavy. How much more would they be forced to endure before this was over?

* * *

Next Chapter: Forever Family 

Due:Due: Alright, here's the thing. This officially starts finals week for me so my schedule is a little busy. I have the next chapter finished, it just needs to be edited, and I will be able to post it on Wed or Thurs (12/21 or 12/22). But I don't have the time to answer the reviews. I may not even be able to read the reviews before I post the next chapter. So if you don't want to review, then don't. While I am always happy to get a review, I can't ask anyone to do it since I myself can't respond to them.


	18. Forever Family

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's Note: So this is a semi-happy chapter, at least for most people. They actually communicate and all that stuff. Oh, and thank you to all who wished me good luck on my finals, and to all who reviewed. It was greatly appreciated.

I'll be able to answer this set of reviews, so please read and review.

* * *

Chapter Seventeen: Forever Family

"So…do we have time to talk now?" Jason asked as he cleared away the dinner dishes from the table. Phoebe was washing the pots and pans, and Prue had disappeared to her room, claiming that she wanted to be alone. Outside, the sun was sinking below the horizon, turning the sky a fiery red and orange.

Phoebe glanced over at Jason and noded slowly, tiredly. "Yeah, we do," she murmured, drying the last pan and putting it away. She leaned on the edge of the counter, watching as Jason filled the dishwasher with plates and then straightened up.

Jason shot his wife a tentative smile and said, "Today, after Prue called, I left work right away. I was running out the door, and Elise asked me where I was going…I was supposed to go over some final editing decisions for tomorrow's paper with her and…" He ran a hand over his face, his eyes filled with gentle laughter. "I told her it was a _family emergency_."

Phoebe raised an eyebrow, the corners of her lips turning up into a wicked smirk. "You said that?" she asked incredulously, remembering how many times she had used that particular phrase.

Jason nodded. He walked into the dining room and pulled out one of the chairs, sinking into it with a strange expression on his face. "I actually used the words…Elise looked at me in absolute horror. I think she's worried I'm turning into you."

"What? It's not like being me is a bad thing," Phoebe replied, taking a seat next to Jason. She was silent for a moment, listening to the rhythmic chimes of the clock standing over the fireplace. She drew a slow breath, held it for a moment, then let it out again, and turned to look at Jason.

He was staring at her, his eyes boring deeply into hers, waiting.

"Jason, I love you. I love you so much, you know that, right?" Phoebe said softly, reaching up and placing her hand on Jason's elbow.

"I know," Jason replied. "I know." He took her hand in his own and held it tightly, his voice thick with emotion. "But there is so much I _don't_ know Phoebe."

"Such as?" Phoebe prompted once Jason lapsed into silence.

"I don't know about your past, Phoebe. I didn't know about Chris or Wyatt, I don't know really anything about Cole. I don't know what you do during the day when you are running off to a _family emergency_, I barely know what as Elder or a white-lighter is or anything about warlocks and demons and dark-lighters. But what worries me the most, Phoebe, is that I don't know where I fit into this family."

"You are my husband and Prue's father," Phoebe replied instantly. "That is were you fit in."

"When?" Jason replied. "When am I your husband and Prue's father? Because it only feels that way when we are doing non-magical things. Whenever magic appears…it's like I'm not a part of the family anymore." He stood up abruptly and began to pace, his eyes staring out into the distance as he contemplated his fears. "Phoebe," he said at last, "I am so terrified of losing you and Prue."

"You won't," Phoebe replied, trying to reassure him, scared and saddened by the trepidation in his eyes.

Jason paused and glanced over at her. "Sometimes it feels like I already have."

"No," Phoebe said sharply, shaking her head emphatically. "Jason, you are our family. Once you are family, you are always family. _Always_."

Jason drew a breath and nodded his understanding of the statement. But his eyes were still shadowed with a doubt that Phoebe's words could not quite erase.

"How do you feel right now about Prue?" Phoebe asked abruptly, pinning her husband with an calculating stare. Off Jason's confused look, she elaborated, "How do you feel now that we know that the warlock did something to her, but we don't know what it was."

"Alarmed. Frightened. Panicked," Jason replied automatically. "I want to be able to do something, to help her, but I don't know how. And I can tell she's upset and afraid, but I don't know what to say to her, I don't know how to comfort her. Because I don't know what's wrong."

Phoebe nodded slowly. "That's how I feel all the time, Jason." She rubbed her hands over her arms, suddenly unnaturally cold. "Because I've been through the suffering and sacrifice that comes with this life, and I know that I am sending Prue out into all of that. She is one of the next generation of Charmed Ones. Her, Pen, and Mel… They will have to shoulder the burden of protecting innocents someday, and there is not a damn thing I can do to protect her. I don't want to go through all the fear with you as well. I don't want to have to worry, every time you go out, whether or not you will come home in one piece."

"Let me be a part of that life," Jason replied, pausing by the window, his back to Phoebe. "I know you are scared, Phoebe, but I want to be there with you and Prue. For all of it, the good and the bad."

"I lost my oldest sister to evil," Phoebe breathed, the tears filling her eyes. "I lost my mother and my first husband…" She paused, thinking about the child she was supposed to have had with Cole. The child that she had never told Jason about, because, really, how do you tell someone that you caried the Source of All Evil in your womb and were then forced to vanquish him? "I've lost so much to evil, Jason. I can't lose you too. I love you." She stood up and wrapped her arms around Jason, clinging to him tightly as though afraid he would die if she let him go.

As though afraid _she_ would die if she let him go.

"Is that enough?" Jason wondered quietly, wrapping his arms around Phoebe.

And Phoebe was honest enough to answer, "I don't know."

* * *

"Where's Dad?" Pen asked as she pulled her hair into a pony-tail and splashed water on her face. It was almost time for bed, and her father still had not shown up. Dinner had been just her and her sister and mother, and she was starting to get worried. 

Even when Kyle had a white-lighter task to do, he always stopped by to tuck them in at night.

Unless he was in mortal peril.

Or having marital problems with Paige.

Pen wasn't sure which reason she would have preferred to be the correct one, although she knew it was most likely the second.

"I'm not sure," Paige admitted, standing in the doorway to the bathroom, watching her daughter's get ready for bed. Kyle had not come back to the house with them. Honoring Paige's wish for some time alone to think, he had avoided the family as much as possible. Granted, that was difficult to do at the moment, seeing as how they were all being targeted by an unknown evil, but he was doing his best to give her space.

It wasn't that she wanted the marriage to end. She loved Kyle, and couldn't imagine a life without him, even if he had lied about Bianca.

It was just that she had to rethink and reformulate her conceptions about her marriage.

She rubbed her tired eyes and turned away from the bathroom, walking towards her own room. Phoebe had been right, they should just all get some sleep. Maybe things would be clearer tomorrow.

* * *

"Alright, thanks Daryl," Piper said, hanging up the phone. She turned and saw Leo standing in the doorway, watching her. "Hey, Daryl found some stuff on this Anna girl. It's kind of weird," she murmured, walking over to him and pulling him into a hug. "We need to talk." 

Leo nodded. "Chris is in his room, I think he's going to bed," the Elder said, leading Piper over to the table. "And Wyatt went to spend the night with Courtney since he has bailed on her twice in the past couple of days." He smiled happily at the thought of his oldest son and Courtney… everyone in the family could just see how perfect they were for each other.

"Where were you?" Piper asked. Leo had disappeared again after the meeting a few hours ago and not given any indication of where he had gone. Although normally that would worry her, she also knew that he probably just needed some space to deal with everything that had happened and everything that had been said.

"I went to check with the Elders to see why you haven't gotten your powers back yet," Leo explained. He took a seat at the counter and stared at Piper seriously. "I mean, you're getting along well now, and you've worked through your issues…"

"Except that we haven't," Piper cut in. "We haven't actually sat down and talked about what we said and how we feel. We haven't had the time."

"Even so," Leo replied, "you seem to be getting along much better. I would have thought…" He let the sentence drift, then said, "The Elders had no idea why you are still powerless. They also thought you should have gotten your powers back earlier."

"Oh?" Piper asked, troubled by the revelation.

"When the warlock attacked, you fought together. Even without your powers, you all stayed together and protected each other, and that should have brought the triqueta back," Leo explained. He shook his head in frustration. It should have worked.

Piper accepted this quietly, thinking. "Maybe there is more to us losing our powers than meets the eye," she replied glumly.

"Or maybe it will just take more to get your powers back," Leo replied.

A thought suddenly occurred to Piper and her eyes widened dramatically. "Maybe we already did get them back, but only for a short period of time, and only in bits and pieces."

"What?" Leo asked, confused.

"Paige…when Wyatt went psycho on the warlock, she used her powers to call for the crystal cage. Orbing-telekinesis…a witch power," Piper explained excitedly.

Leo frowned, nodding as he realized what Piper was saying. "You were all in danger, and instead of orbing herself and her daughters to safety, which she could have done, Paige stayed and helped defend you. So for a brief moment, she got her powers back because she had rebuilt the sisters' bond."

"And once the danger was passed, she didn't have her power anymore," Piper said. She ran a hand through her hair, thinking. "I guess that's one more thing to add to our list of topics for tomorrow's discussion."

"What did you find out about Anna Carlson?" Leo asked.

Piper looked at him in silence for a moment, then said, "I need to say something else first." She looked away and took a deep breath, steeling her resolve for what she was about to say. "Leo…the stuff I've said to you the past several days…about being a bad father…I didn't mean it."

Leo looked at Piper in complete surprise and burst into laughter. He laughed so hard tears appeared in his eyes. He clutched his side as the laughter began to make it throb. And still he continued to laugh.

"Leo!"

"Piper," Leo gasped out, "I _know_ you didn't mean it." He wiped the tears out of his eyes and caught his breath. "Is that what you are so upset about? What you said?"

Piper nodded quietly, and Leo shook his head at her.

"I know you didn't mean it," the Elder repeated. "A lot of it was said in the heat of the moment. I _know_."

Piper smiled slightly, a little relieved. "I love you," she said softly, leaning forward to kiss him. After a moment of kissing, however, she drew back and said gravely, "But you shouldn't have left to check with the Elders until you were sure that Chris was safe. Kyle could have done it for you."

"I know," Leo breathed. "It just…it seemed like the logical thing to do. It still seems like the logical thing to do, even though I know it is wrong." He shrugged, somewhat apologetic, and looked away, inwardly unnerved by what was happening to him.

Chris had hated him in the other timeline. He had never been there for his youngest son, instead playing favorites with Wyatt and Piper. He came at his wife and oldest child's every call, but Chris…

He did not want to be _that_ father.

* * *

"Hey," Mel said, knocking on the door to Chris' room and stepping inside. Chris was sitting on his bed, staring at the wall blankly, clearly lost in thought. Morning light flooded through the window, casting shadows on the wall. 

"Hey, Mel," Chris replied in a bleak monotone.

"Everyone is here. Downstairs. Apparently Aunt Piper found some stuff about this Anna girl. Maybe it will help us."

Chris nodded and got up slowly. The night's sleep had unfortunately not made him feel any better, and he did not relish the thought of facing his family now. He did not want to hear about Anna Carlson, he did not want to hear about the other timeline.

He didn't want to even think about all the lives he may have potentially screwed up.

"I doubt she could have found anything to helpful," he murmured, grabbing a sweatshirt from his chair and pulling it over his head. "Anna couldn't be more than five or six." The moment the words were out of his mouth, he realized his mistake and swung around sharply to look at Mel.

Mel was regarding him in confusion and suspicion. "You said you didn't know Anna," she accused. Chris hesitated, unsure of what to say, so Mel continued, "You knew her in the other timeline, didn't you?"

Chris could only nod wordlessly.

"Why did you lie?" Mel demanded. "Everyone needed to know. It could have been a clue."

Chris shrugged and looked away, a little unnerved by the fact that he was being lectured by a thirteen-year-old.

"Chris, is this about the lives you may have erased?" Mel asked quietly, staring at Chris shrewdly. "Are you worried you may have screwed up Anna's life?"

"Not really," Chris replied honestly. "I just didn't want to think about the other timeline, about what happened to her, about…about all of that."

"Well, you shouldn't have been so selfish!" Mel snapped, knowing that some of her anger was due to what he had said to her the day before.

_Weren't suppose to exist…_

"I know that!" Chris hissed angrily. "But you don't get what this is like for me. Do you have any idea what it feels like to know that someone's life…that millions of people's lives could have been irrevocably changed because of you?"

"Get over it," Mel shot back. "You saved the world, you're a hero. Stop being so…stop being such a _guy_! And stop feeling sorry for yourself because we have bigger problems right now." She folded her arms over her chest and glared at him. "You've got to get past your 'I'm independent and will take care of everything on my own and never talk to anyone while I stew in my own self-pity' deal and work with us!"

Chris turned to Mel, his eyes haunted, then looked away. "I don't know how."

Mel stopped abruptly, realizing she had gone to far. Chris was still dealing with the repercussions of what the warlock had done, and because of those fragmented memories and feelings, the effects of the gold-light had hit him so much harder than anyone else.

He was trying to fight it, but it was just so _hard_.

Chris, meanwhile, looked at his little cousin and suddenly realized that there was something he needed to say, something he needed her to understand. He walked over to the bed and sat down, gesturing for Mel to do the same.

Mel took a seat next to her cousin, a little worried. "Chris? What is it?"

"I love you," the witch-lighter said slowly. "I love you and Pen, and I don't regret the fact that you are here. What I said yesterday, it wasn't…It was about _me_, Mel. About what I did, not about you or Pen. You have to understand that."

"I know," Mel whispered, feeling the salt-water tears prick at her eyes.

"Because, no matter what, you are my little cousin." Chris ran a hand through his hair, pushing it away from his face, and said, "Once you're family, you are always family. Nothing changes that."

Mel drew a shaky breath and said, "That's the problem, though, isn't it?" she glanced up at Chris, her brown eyes wide with understanding. "That's how you feel about Ria and Adam. They were…_are_…family, and you…"

"Erased them?" Chris supplied helpfully when Mel found she could not say the words. He nodded slowly, painfully aware of what he had done to his cousins. Both sets of cousins. "I would never trade you in for her," Chris whispered. "But at the same time…"

"You would never have traded them in for me?" Mel finished. She smiled tentatively at Chris, and placed a hand on his arm. "I get it, Chris. Really, I do. And I know that how you are feeling right now… it isn't a reflection on how you feel about Pen and I. We both know how much you love us."

Chris nodded again, not knowing what to say.

"Uncle Leo was a doctor in WWII, wasn't he?" Mel said abruptly, standing up and pacing the room in front of Chris.

"Yes, but I fail to see what that has to do with anything," Chris replied, bewilderment appearing momentarily in his eyes.

"Doctors in a war have to decide who they can save. If a soldier is too far gone, they let him go. They can't spend so much resources saving one guy, not when it will mean death for four or five others. It's called triage, Chris. Maybe you don't have the right to decide who lives and who dies, but you do it anyway. You have to do it, because if you try to save everyone, you will end up failing to save anyone."

Chris was quiet for a moment, contemplating Mel's words, then he frowned slightly and said, "You're only thirteen. When did you get to be so wise?"

Mel paused her pacing and glanced at Chris, a bittersweet smile playing over her features. "In this family, Chris, everybody grows up quickly."

Chris nodded and stood up. "I've got to talk to my Mom," he said, walking past Mel and to the door.

Mel turned and looked over at him, confused. "About what?"

Chris paused and shot her an unreadable look. "Anna Carlson," he replied.

* * *

Next Chapter: Anna Carlson 

Due: Sunday 12/25 (Christmas!)


	19. Anna Carlson

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's Note: Sorry this updae is so late in the day, I've not had access to a computer until now. I hope the chapter is worth the wait, although I will warn you now that it does not answer many questions, and the ones it does answer are not entirely obvious.

* * *

Chapter Eighteen: Anna Carlson 

Paige sat stiffly the wicker loveseat in the sunroom, watching silently as her sisters paced back and forth across the floor. Leo leaned on the doorframe of the entrance to the kitchen, his face grim. Wyatt and Prue huddled together on the sofa, flipping through the pages of the Book, and Pen stood by the window, staring out at the morning sun.

The night sleep had left them all refreshed, but unfortunately no closer to an answer than where they were the day before.

"Where's Jason?" Piper asked at last, breaking the silence that had fallen.

Phoebe paused in her pacing and glanced at her older sister. "He's at work," she replied quietly. Despite the talk the night before, things were still strained between the two, and neither knew where exactly they stood.

And the Bay Mirror would not run itself.

"And Kyle?" Piper continued, turning to Paige.

"Helping one of his charges with something," the witch-lighter Charmed One answered. "He said to call if we need him."

"So we're all here?" Leo asked, glancing around the room. "Once Mel gets Chris?"

His question was met with nods, and he turned and glanced over at the stairs. A moment later his son appeared, followed by Mel, and entered the room. Chris' face was still pale and drawn, but there was a light in his eyes, one that had not been there the day before.

Whatever Mel had said to him had obviously made an impact.

"So, let's start," Chris said, flopping himself next to Paige on the loveseat. He flicked his hair out of his eyes impatiently and glanced up at his mother, offering a tentative smile.

The Halliwell matriarch stared around the room, taking in the grim faces that were turned towards her. "Well, I talked to Daryl," she said quietly. "Anna Carlson is a five-year-old orphan living with her newly adoptive parents in a suburb of the city."

"A five-year-old?" Phoebe asked, incredulous.

"Oh, it gets better," Piper replied, smirking bleakly at the incredulous look on her sister's face. "She's a mortal. No connection to magic whatsoever."

"And she is supposed to tell us something?" Paige asked, clearly unsure what to think of the revelation.

"How did her parents die?" Chris asked suddenly, leaning forward interestedly.

Piper raised an eyebrow, not understanding her son's inordinate curiosity about the subject, but answered all the same, "Her mother died in childbirth, her father was stabbed to death at his work."

"When?" Chris pressed. "How? What happened?"

"It was two years ago," Piper replied. She took a seat next to Wyatt and Pen and continued, "Apparently he was a social worker in a shelter for battered women and children. One of the woman who was there…her husband came and found her. Anna's father, Mathew Carlson, was defending the woman, and the enraged husband stabbed him twice in the back. He died in the hospital a few hours later."

"That's horrible," Paige breathed, shocked.

Piper nodded glumly. "The police found the killer. When they showed up at his home, he hadn't even bothered to wash the blood off of his hands."

Mel turned and looked at Chris, watching the different emotions flickering in his eyes. "Chris?" she prompted. "Got something you want to say?"

All eyes turned in surprise first to Mel, and then to Chris. Chris stood up and began to pace, running a hand through his hair and biting his lip, trying to put his troubled thoughts into order. "What day was Mathew killed? What was the exact date?" he said finally.

The question caught Piper completely by surprise, but she recovered quickly and looked down at the notes in her hand. She scanned over everything Daryl had told her until she found the desired information. "April 27, 2025."

Chris paled at the date, but swallowed his fear and managed to say, "I knew Anna in the other timeline."

"But you said…" Piper started.

Chris cut her off, turning and freezing her with a stare. "I know what I said," he said softly, "And I've already been read the riot act by one person in this room, so if we could postpone your lecture at least for a little while…"

Piper glanced over at Mel, who had the decency to blush. The Piper turned back to her son, the corners of her lips turning upwards. "Alright," she said. "Continue."

"Her father worked for Wyatt," Chris said slowly, and then cursed inwardly as he saw Wyatt stiffen out of the corner of his eye. He knew this would be a difficult subject for his brother, but it had to be said.

"He was evil?" Prue said bluntly, blatantly ignoring Wyatt's flinch.

Chris nodded slowly. "Before he worked for Wyatt, he was a drug dealer. He did a few years prison time, but then Wyatt took over at the jails pretty much…disappeared. He joined forces with Wyatt and that's how he met Anna's mother. I don't know what happened to her, but I know she died shortly after Anna was born."

"And Mathew?" Paige pressed, not entirely sure what this had to do with anything, but intrigued all the same.

"He rose quickly in Wyatt's ranks, and by the time Anna was three, he had become one of Wyatt's mortal generals. On April 27, 2025 of the other timeline, he led a massive attack on the Resistance. A…_friend_…of mine faced him in the battlefield and killed him. She stabbed him twice in the back…"

"You remember that in quite vivid detail," Leo remarked.

Chris nodded. "It was one of the memories that was returned to me with all its tiny details intact," he answered. He glanced over at his mother and shrugged, "Same day on both timelines. He died the same day."

"But he was two completely different people," Prue pointed out. "One he was a saint, the other he was…not a saint." A silence fell over the Halliwell family members as they thought over the cryptic hint the warlock had given, and everything that it could possible mean.

"Is this supposed to tell us something?" Pen asked at last. "Because I'm coming up blank."

"We need you to tell us everything about the other timeline," Phoebe said, turning to Chris. "Maybe that will shed some light on this mystery." She cast a look at her daughter, and Chris understood the unasked question.

What did the warlock do to Prue?

He knew the answer to that, or at least, he was pretty sure he knew the answer to that. Unfortunately, it was not one that anyone would like to hear.

Chris sighed and shook his head slowly, replying, "I don't know how much I can tell you. My memories weren't returned in full, so…" He shrugged and took his seat again, tapping his fingers absently on the arm of the loveseat.

Prue was looking at him shrewdly, watching as he steadily avoided her gaze. "You know what the warlock did to me, don't you?" she asked quietly. When Chris did not respond, she felt her temper build and demanded harshly, "Tell me!"

"I don't know anything for certain," Chris replied instantly, settling for half-truths. He _didn't_ know anything for certain, all he had were deductions and speculations.

Of course, he was fairly certain that his conjecture was the right one.

"Chris…" There was an unmistakable warning in Prue's voice. She didn't care what she had been like in the other timeline, what she had done, what the warlock had done to her. She would deal with the good and the bad. She just needed to know what it was.

Besides, how bad could it be?

"You sold me out to Wyatt in the other timeline," Chris said bluntly, casting an apologetic glance at his cousin. She stared up at him in shock, her eyes wide with disbelief at the statement,. "Wyatt captured her at one point, said he'd kill her if she didn't trick me into returning to him…" Chris hurried on, turning to the others in the room.

"So I betrayed you? Just like that?" Prue gasped, shaking her head in denial. "But…I should have let Wyatt kill me! I should have let him kill me rather than betray you. You would have done the same for me."

"Wyatt wouldn't have killed me," Chris replied, and he said it with such conviction that everyone couldn't help but believe his words. He rubbed his eyes and shook his head, unsure why he felt so strongly about that. "I don't know how I know that, but I do…" He looked over at Prue. "Wy might have killed you, Prue, but he would never have killed me."

"Why did I turn you over?" Prue whispered. "_How_ did I turn you over?"

Chris shrugged, racking his brain for the answer that would not come. "I don't remember the details," he said at last. "It wasn't one of the memories that was returned." He bit his lip for a moment, then said, "But I do remember asking you why…and you said…"

"What?" Mel asked, impatient as ever. "What did she say?"

Chris closed his eyes for a moment, trying to conjure up the images of that particular memory. "She said…she was more powerful than me and she…" he frowned, remembering. "Wyatt was going to kill her, but he offered a trade. If she brought me to him, he would let her go. She thought her life was more important because… because she could save more innocents…since she had more power …so she took the deal."

Prue looked horrified at the suggestion. "I did that?" she whispered, her voice filled with loathing. "I can't believe I would do that!"

"That's what the warlock did?" Phoebe asked softly, staring at her daughter in concern. "It made her value power? Magic?" Like Wyatt… Phoebe mentally slapped herself for equating Wyatt with evil, but still, she could not keep the thought from coming to mind.

The warlock had made Prue like Wyatt.

"Yes and no," Chris replied, turning towards Phoebe and sending her a reassuring smile, knowing exactly where her thoughts were going at the moment. "It made her value power in so far as it would allow her to save innocents. Neither the Prue in the other timeline, nor our Prue, ever valued power just for the sake of power." Unlike Wyatt, who had believed…

_It's all about power, it's as simple as that._

_And whoever has the most power wins, is that it?_

_That's it._

Chris pulled himself from the memory and glanced over at Prue. She looked back at him, her large eyes filled with tears. He tried to offer her a reassuring smile, but she looked away abruptly and crossed her arms over her chest, tired and worn out.

"Well, I guess that is another thing to think about," Piper said at last, not knowing what else to say to break the tense silence. "We, unfortunately, have other things to discuss." She began to pace again, worried. "We've been lucky so far, no demon attacks in the past couple days. But our luck won't hold, especially is someone very powerful is behind this all. We need to figure out a way to get them back."

"They'll come back when they are meant to," Paige replied wearily. "If I've learned anything in the past twenty-odd years of being Charmed, it's that you can't force your magic to do anything before it's ready."

"We might not have a choice, Paige," Piper pointed out. "We don't know how much time we have."

"So what do we do?" Phoebe asked, looking between her sisters. "How do we get them back?"

Piper shrugged. "We talk." She glanced over at Leo. "Check with the Elders and see what they think now that we know who Anna Carlson is," she instructed. She turned back to the rest of her family as Leo orbed out, and said, "Wyatt, Mel, and Pen, can you guys start on some all-purpose vanquishing potions? We might need them if we get attacked before our powers come back." The three witch-lighters left the room, heading for the kitchen, and soon the sound of pots and jars scraping across the linoleum of the counter could be heard.

"What about us?" Chris asked, gesturing to Prue and himself. "What should we do?" He knew his mother wanted time alone with the Aunts so they could discuss whatever the huge fight had been about.

"Chris, you're sure the name Melinda doesn't mean anything to you?" Piper asked, frowning.

Chris shook his head. "No, Mom, that one I'm not lying about. Nobody in the other timeline got named Melinda."

Piper frowned slightly, nodding her head. "Alright," she said slowly, her mind traveling to a different future she had once gained a glimpse of. The one where Prue had still been alive and Phoebe had been burnt at the stake…

Was it possible? Was this phantom girl the daughter she had never had?

"Chris, orb over to Magic School and ask Trisha or Thomas to help you find some books on parallel plains of existence," Piper said at last, jolting herself back into the present. "I still think this is somehow tied to the other future. Then bring those books back here, we'll go through them together."

Chris nodded and orbed away, and Piper turned to her oldest niece. "Prue, sweetie, I know this is hard for you…"

"Don't," Prue said, cutting her aunt off. "Whatever you are going to say…just don't." She stood up and said, "I just…need to think. I'll be in the attic for a few minutes…then I can help you…okay?"

Piper glanced over at Phoebe, tactfully allowing the teenager's mother to handle the situation. Phoebe got up and walked over to Prue, pulling her daughter into a hug. "That wasn't you," she whispered as she felt Prue stiffen in annoyance. "Don't ever forget…that wasn't you." She stepped away from her daughter and said in a louder tone, "Sure, take all the time you need. We'll call you if there is an emergency."

Prue smiled gratefully at her mother and turned to go. She paused, glancing at the mantle over the fireplace, her eyes falling on the picture. It was the picture of her, Chris, and Wyatt playing at the park, the picture that she had touched all those days ago…the picture that had given her the premonition of Piper burning photographs…the premonition that had started her involvement in all this.

She walked over to it, ignoring the confused look on her mother's and aunts' faces. She placed her hand on the frame of the picture, staring at it, and wondering what would have happened if she had simply _not _touched the picture that day? Would she still be standing here, dealing with all this information that she didn't want about a timeline she never even knew existed?

And quite suddenly she found herself pulled into another premonition.

_The Seer turned and looked at the demon, a strange light in her eyes. "I've seen the future," she murmured. "I've seen the fight."_

"_Do we win?" the demon demanded._

"_That I have not seen," the Seer admitted. "The ending of the battle eludes me, I cannot quite grasp it." She turned back to the image in her pool. "They make so many sacrifices for the Greater Good," she mused, waving her hand and turning the water black. "And they will continue to make so many more."_

"_What did you see?" the demon pressed._

_The Seer frowned and answered cryptically, "Suffering."_

Prue gasped in shock and opened her eyes, blinking rapidly to restore her vision. She had fallen to the ground, and Phoebe was kneeling down at her side, concern on her face, while the other two sisters watched in anticipation.

"What did you see?" Phoebe asked, pushing a strand of hair out of her daughter's eyes.

Prue took a breath and shook her head. "I saw…I saw demons. I think I saw who is behind this all."

* * *

Next Chapter: Revelations 

Due: Tues. 12/27


	20. Revelations

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: This chapter has the second revelation in it (hence the name). Actually, it has three revelations in it, but two of them are very cryptic and difficult to spot unless, like me, you know what is going to happen. Also, don't confuse Melinda and Mel. Melinda is the phantom girl (Phase Two) and Mel is Paige's daughter.

* * *

Chapter Nineteen: Revelations

Chris flipped casually through the books on the shelf, his eyes scanning the titles for anything related to alternate universes. Next to him, both Trisha and Thomas did the same, neither entirely sure what was going on, but knowing from the dark look on Chris' face, it was nothing good.

"What about this?" Trisha said at last, stumbling across a book entitled, _Alternate Universes and Parallel Dimensions: A Witches Guide to the Conundrums of Existence_. She held it up for Chris, who nodded in approval.

"Put it on the table," Chris instructed, turning back to the shelves.

Trisha and Thomas exchanged a glance in confusion. It was unlike Chris to be this moody, this taciturn. He was by no means a talkative person in general, but he seemed even more monosyllabic than usual.

Trisha placed the book on the table next to a stack of others. The Magic School library was almost empty except for a few students who were working at tables on the other side of the room. The Magic School Librarian was sitting at her desk near the doorway, slowly perusing a magazine, oblivious to all around her.

"How many books do we have so far?" Thomas asked, glancing back at the piles of books with encouraging titles.

Trisha frowned replied, "I'd say maybe fifteen."

"It's going to take a while to go through all of those books," Thomas pointed out, turning to Chris. "Why don't you take them back to your family, and then come back for more after you've read through those?" He stretched his muscles, his back aching slightly. It had been a long day teaching, and then when Chris had showed up asking for a favor…

As much as Thomas had wanted to go home, he knew it was probably better to stay and help out. If the Charmed Ones had a problem, it meant the entire magical world had a problem. The legendary witches were, after all, really the only things standing between them and complete domination by evil.

It was a burden Thomas was incredibly thankful he did not have to carry.

Chris nodded absently, staring over at the books. "Yeah…good idea. I'm just going to keep looking for a few minutes, but you guys can go if you want." In truth, he did not really want to return home right now.

Trisha and Thomas both nodded and disappeared, thankful for the chance to leave. Chris watched them go silently, then turned back to the shelf and skimmed over the titles. He continued walking through the stacks until he found a particularly promising section, then he stopped and ran his fingers lightly over the spines of the books, reading the titles with interest.

_Beginner Witch's Guide to Traveling Through Dimensions._

_The Art of Shimmering to Other Planes._

_Portals and Where They'll Take You._

_Time and Space._

"Time and Space?" Chris mused. "Could the title be any more vague?" He pulled out the large tomb, wiping the dust from the cover and staring at it. He opened the book and inspected the pages. They were yellowed with age, and the ink was slightly faded and blurred in spots. The corners were dog-eared, and the sides of the pages were covered in smudged finger prints, as though the book had been handled one too many times.

"It's quite old, you know," an amused voice said. "The book's been around for almost eternity."

Chris spun around to stare at the woman in front of him. She was leaning idly against the stacks, smiling up at him with a wholly untrustworthy grin. Her long dark hair fell in front of her brown eyes, eyes that were sparkling up at him with amusement.

Chris had never seen her before, but he knew instantly who she was. His mother's eyes, hair, and cheekbones, his father's face shape and skin tone, the trademark Halliwell smirk…

"Melinda."

"I see my reputation proceeds me," the phantom girl replied lightly.

Chris glanced up and down the aisle he was in. It was empty, and he was hidden from the view of the rest of the library. If Melinda was evil, this was a very bad place for him to be…

"Relax, I'm not going to kill you," Melinda said, laughing softly, her silky voice filled with enjoyment.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Chris demanded, taking a step towards the girl.

Melinda looked up at him, her eyes wide with censure. "Now, now…you don't have to sound so accusatory, Christopher," she answered with mocking reprimand. She folded her arms across her chest and took a step backwards, discreetly putting space between herself and the witch-lighter.

"If you are here to hurt my family…" Chris began, but Melinda cut him off.

"Take a look at me, Chris!" she replied, gesturing to her face. "Isn't it quite obvious that I _am_ your family?"

"You could be a shape-shifter," Chris replied bitterly, mentally preparing himself to attack her if need be.

"I'm not," Melinda replied curtly, her eyes fixing Chris with a piercing stare.

And Chris knew in that moment that she was telling the truth. Whatever this phantom was, she was _not_ a shape-shifter.

"What do you want?" Chris repeated warily.

Melinda smiled widely, clearly enjoying the game of cat and mouse. "What I want doesn't really matter," she answered. "I am not here to _do_ anything."

Chris blinked, unable to comprehend the meaning in her words. "What do you mean?" he demanded angrily, quickly growing weary of the riddles. Then he abruptly remembered Wyatt's words about the girl…that she had not felt real.

Like she wasn't actually there at all…

"Smart boy," Melinda said softly, watching Chris' eyes with an appraising stare. Off Chris' confused look, she elaborated, "Listen to your brother. He knows more than even he realizes."

Chris shook his head and said, "Why are you here?" He felt as though he had been repeatedly asking the same questions over and over for the past several days, and continually getting no concrete answers.

Melinda was silent for a moment, contemplating the question. Finally, she replied, "I'm here because my presence causes Phase Two."

"Which is…?" Chris pressed, curious as to what exactly Phase Two referred to.

Melinda titled her head to one side and flicked a strand of hair out of her eyes. Her thin eyebrows raised ever so slightly, as though she could not quite believe that Chris was asking her that. "Isn't it obvious?" she quipped.

"If it was, would I be asking you?" Chris snapped back.

Melinda smiled wider, her prefect teeth gleaming white in the dim light of the library. "Phase Two is the beginning."

"Then what was Phase One?" Chris asked instantly.

"The end." And with that last enigmatic comment, the phantom Halliwell disappeared into thin air.

* * *

"Ah, Leo, you're here," a red-haired Elder greeted with a smile that did not fully mask his apprehension. 

Leo glanced around him in confusion. White-lighters and Elders were everywhere, congregating in groups of twos and threes, talking in hushed whispers. "What's going on, Nathaniel?" Leo asked, surprised at the activity. "It wasn't like this when I was here last night."

Nathaniel sighed and nodded. The Elder gestured for Leo to follow him, and said in a low tone, "The shift in magic we told you about…we can feel it even more now. It is very pronounced, as though…" Nathaniel sighed and closed him eyes, lifting his arms out sideways and letting all the senses from the world invade his mind.

Leo glanced at his colleague and friend and then did likewise. The two stood for a moment, each absorbing whatever the world had to offer them.

Magic pulsed with an energy unlike anything else. There was no distinction between good magic and evil magic, magic was simply magic. It was stronger in some places, weaker in others, and everywhere it had been it left a trail that slowly faded over time, like a foot print in the sand.

It was colorful. Some of it was white and pure, magic untainted by anything else. The white magic had not been touched by witches or demons, but instead simply existed as a fundamental part of the world, pulsating to its own rhythm and design. Some of the magic was red, varying from softer pinks to deep crimsons and maroons. This was strong magic, so strong that it had broken free of those who tried to use it and consumed them, destroying any evidence of their existence. And some magic was blue, pale green, or dark yellow, and this magic was used by witches and demons, controlled and hurled at one another. It left the most distinctive trails; splotches of color where energy balls had been thrown and streaks of hues where spells had been cast.

The colors normally had a pattern, a mesh of interwoven paths they followed. They divided out into portions, primarily white. Blue and green where present in smaller amounts, although still quite frequent. This was followed by dark yellow. And lastly red, a tiny fraction, barely noticeable among the others.

But it was different today. Yesterday the shift had been tiny, discreet. A little more red, a little less blue and green.

Today the world was overwhelmingly red.

Leo opened his eyes with a start and turned to Nathaniel. "How is this possible?" he asked, concerned. This was worse than anything he had ever heard of, anything he had ever encountered, in all his years as an Elder. This red…it could destroy everything.

"We don't know," Nathaniel admitted. "That is what worries us."

* * *

"What? What do you mean you saw who is behind this? Who was it?" Piper demanded all in one breath, kneeling down beside her niece. Paige had gone into the kitchen to get some water for her sisters and niece, and returned a moment later, standing in the doorway, waiting for an answer. Phoebe was still sitting on the floor next to Prue, holding her daughter's hands in her own. 

Prue shook her head and sighed. "It wasn't anyone I recognized," she replied, frowning. "It was a man and a woman. They were standing in a cave, talking about something…about suffering, I think."

"What did they look like?" Paige asked as she helped Prue stand up and guided her over to the sofa.

Prue sunk into and closed her eyes, picturing the image she had seen. "The woman was average height, with dark skin, dark hair, and dark eyes. The man had pale skin and dark eyes…he was wearing a robe with a hood…I don't know…" she glanced apologetically at her mother. "I don't know what else to say. I didn't get a good look at the man, his features were obscured by the hood."

"We could check in the Book," Phoebe suggested, glancing over the family heirloom on the table.

"I doubt it would do any good," Piper replied, frowning. "If Prue didn't see any distinctive characteristics…" She took a seat across from her niece and contemplated their options.

"Okay, we got this close, and we have a huge clue. We can't just let it go," Paige pointed out, crossing her arms over her chest and exchanging a glance with Piper.

"Maybe you can give me the premonition," Phoebe suggested. "Maybe it would be a demon I've seen before."

"That's a thought," Piper replied, nodding her approval of the idea. "At any rate, two sets of eyes would be better than one."

"But I've never done that before," Prue protested, worried. "I don't know how."

"It is an inherent part of the power of premonition," Phoebe replied. "You'll figure it out. Instinctively." Her voice was filled with confidence, and Prue couldn't help but believe her.

Prue shrugged and reached out, taking her mother's hands in her own. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the image, trying to force it through their linked hands and into her mother's mind. She had never done _anything_ like this before, and had no idea how it was done, but after a moment the image faded from her mind and she felt her mother stiffen next to her, thrown headlong into the premonition.

Phoebe opened her eyes slowly, her entire body shaking with fear at what she had seen. She swallowed and blinked, glancing over at Piper and Paige. Her eyes were wide, her face pale, and a few strands of short dark hair fell in front of her features, contrasting starkly with her sheet-white skin.

"Did you see who it was? Who the two demons were?" Piper asked gently, handing Phoebe a glass of water. She could see the fear in her middle sister's eyes, and she knew it did not bode well for them.

Phoebe nodded and took a sip of the water. The glass shook in her hands and she placed it down on the coffee table. She placed a hand on her forehead, willing the headache to subside. Then she turned and glanced over at Piper, nodding slowly. "Yes, I saw," she answered. She looked away, her mind on matters from over two decades ago. "It was the Seer."

"Who?" Prue asked, not knowing who the Seer was, or why seeing her would effect Phoebe so adversely.

"The Seer?" Paige repeated. "The one that stole your baby?"

"What?" Prue demanded, this time louder than before. When no one she resigned herself to being in the dark until everything else was said and done.

"The Seer that we already vanquished?" Piper asked, frowning. "She's back?"

Phoebe nodded wordlessly, running a hand through her short hair and taking a shaky breath. She looked across the room and off into the distance, seeing nothing but her own troubled memories. The Seer who had stolen her baby. Her baby… the one that she had vanquished.

Piper and Paige exchanged another brief glance, each thinking the same thing. How were they supposed to vanquish the Seer without the Power of Three?

"Phoebe?" Piper said, placing a hand on her sister's shoulder and bringing her out of her reverie. "Prue said there were two people there. Did you get a look at the other demon?" She could see the worry in Phoebe's eyes, and it unnerved her. Granted, seeing the Seer was bad. But was it bad enough to cause her this much fear?

Or had she seen something else?

"I saw," Phoebe murmured. She took a breath and glanced at the impatient faces staring back at her. She was silent for a beat, just staring at them, as the image of what she had seen played through her mind.

"Well?" Prue demanded at last, when no one else said anything. "Did you recognize him?"

"Yes," Phoebe whispered. Again, she was silent for a moment, then continued in a barely audible voice, "It was the Source."

* * *

Next Chapter: Between Head and Heart 

Due Date: Monday 1/2 (2006!)


	21. Between Head and Heart

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's Note: Thanks to all who reviewed. And Happy New Year.

* * *

Chapter Twenty: Between Head and Heart 

"The Source? As in the Source of All Evil?" Leo asked in astonishment. He was leaning against the doorframe of the sunroom, his eyes wide with shock. Wyatt and the twins had taken seats in the sofa, and Chris, laden with all the books from Magic School, was slowly making his way to the loveseat. Paige and Prue were sitting next to each other on two hard-backed chairs, while Piper and Kyle paced restlessly.

Phoebe had disappeared to call Jason and inform him of the latest development. And to reassure herself that he was safe.

"How many times do we have to vanquish him?" Paige asked wearily.

"How many times have you vanquished him?" Prue questioned.

"Well, there was the first time when he was reborn in Cole, then there was the time when we vanquished Cole, so that was twice. Then there was Phoebe's demonic baby, so that's three…" Paige reeled off, counting the times on her fingers.

"What?" Prue asked harshly, turning sharply to stare at her youngest aunt. "What do you mean there was Mom's demonic baby?"

Paige, realizing what she had given away, glanced over at Piper for help. Piper glared back at her in annoyance and said to Prue, "It's a long story, Prue, and one that you should hear from Phoebe, not us."

Prue glanced between her aunts, and seeing the determined look on their faces, knew not to push it. She lapsed into a sulking silence, still reeling from the news.

Her mother had a demonic child that had been vanquished?

They had vanquished a _child_?

"So do we think the Source and this shift in magic are related?" Kyle asked, breaking the uneasy silence and glancing over at his brother-in-law.

Leo nodded wordlessly. It was too much of a coincidence for them not to be related.

"And this girl…Melinda…you saw her at Magic School?" Paige asked quietly, her eyes on Chris.

Chris nodded, thinking back to his conversation with the mysterious stranger. "Yeah…I did."

"And she told you that Phase Two was the beginning, and Phase One was the end, and it was here mere presence that caused Phase Two?" Wyatt asked, summing up everything Chris had told them. He shook his head. "Well, that makes no sense to me."

"What books did you find?" Mel asked, picking up one of the books that Chris had brought back. "From Here to There; Portals and Parallels." She turned to Chris with one eyebrow raised. "_Fascinating_,' she deadpanned.

Paige smirked slightly, then stood up and said, "I've got to get back to Magic School. I need to find someone to cover my classes today…" She hadn't been to class in a while, each day finding a new substitute. She found that she missed teaching, missed watching the students learn.

"I'll do it," Kyle volunteered.

Paige glanced over at him, startled by the offer, and smiled briefly. "Thanks," she said softly.

"How many vanquishing potions did you guys make?" Piper asked, glancing at Wyatt and the twins.

"A lot," Pen answered. "But will the work on the Source?"

"No, but they'll help us to take out any of his minions that might attack. And we have a spell that will work on the Source," Paige replied.

Phoebe entered the room at that point and heard Paige's comment. She wrinkled her nose and replied, "We have a spell that would work on the Source if we were still Charmed."

"You guys didn't have a chance to talk about stuff yet?" Leo asked, looking between the sisters.

"We were going to, but then Prue got the premonition," Paige replied glumly. "Seems like every time we try to sit down and talk, something gets in the way." She turned her attention to her sisters, feeling yet again a wave of guilt pass through her. She wished she could take back the things she had said.

They _all_ wished they could take back what had been said.

"I know what you mean," Phoebe answered heavily, taking a seat next to her daughter. "First the warlock attacking, now the Source…and we still have to worry about those dark-lighters…" She rubbed her eyes wearily and shook her head. "Plus the whole issue with Chris' memories and Bianca…"

Chris suddenly flushed a deep crimson and jumped to his feet in shock and guilt.

"Chris?" Piper asked instantly, worried.

"Bianca! I haven't seen her since the warlock attacked. I have to make sure she's okay, I have to tell her what is going on," Chris replied. He had completely forgotten about her role in all of this. So many things had happened to his family, and he had been so completely focused on mending the rifts, he had forgotten about her.

"She's fine," Piper replied quietly, remembering the way the seething Phoenix had glowered at her when she was told to leave. "Angry, but fine."

"I should check and…"

"Are you sure that is a wise idea?" Leo asked softly.

Chris raised an eyebrow at his father. "Why wouldn't it be?" he demanded harshly. "I know you don't like her, but…"

"It isn't about whether or not we like her, Chris, it is about her own safety," Leo replied gently, flinching both at his son's harsh tone and the truth in his words. He _didn't_ like Bianca.

"Oh?" The word was dripping with enough sarcasm to make Leo flinch again. Green eyes narrowed angrily, as though daring the Elder to continue.

"Chris, Latere may be gone, but if the Source is really the one behind this…"

"Which he is," Phoebe cut in.

"…then there may be other demons or warlocks out there that the Source is contracting with," Leo finished, sparing a brief nod for Phoebe to acknowledge his acceptance of her statement.

"She's a trained assassin," Chris replied. "Even if she doesn't kill anymore, she still knows how to fight."

"And what if the Source finds another way to bring out dormant personality traits?" Leo asked pointedly, watching the comprehension dawn on Chris' face.

"You think the Source could turn her into the Bianca she was before…when she worked for Wyatt?" Chris asked worriedly. He had not consider that possibility, and it scared him to no end. He did not want to lose his love twice, did not want to suffer through seeing those warm brown eyes turn icy cold again.

"It is possible," Piper spoke up, supporting her husband. "I would say probable." She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, shaking her head slowly. "Chris, we simply don't know what we are up against, and if there is even the slightest chance that the Source could bring back the assassin part of Bianca…do you really want to do that to her?"

Chris hesitated, clearly torn between his desire to see Bianca, and his fear of having her revert to the assassin he once knew.

"Peanut, I'm not going to lie to you," Piper continued, getting up and placing a hand on Chris' shoulder, "I _don't_ like Bianca. But I can see, in your eyes, how much you love her, and I would never dream of standing in the way of that. So believe me when I tell you that I am not saying this because I want to keep her away." She paused, then amended the last sentence. "Well, not _only_ because I want to keep her away. I am also saying this because I really do think bringing her here would be a dangerous idea, and a gamble I am not ready to take."

"Maybe I should just tell her that everything's okay…" Chris suggested half-heartedly, knowing as he said it that it was a bad idea. If he saw Bianca again, he couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't tell her everything, and then the protective part of her would insist that she join the fight.

"That's a bad idea," Wyatt said gruffly, although he was smirking slightly. "Even I know that, and I barely know the girl." He eyed Chris for a moment, then continued, "Not really thinking with your head, are you?"

Chris flushed even deeper at the implied suggestion and glared at his brother. "Don't be crude."

"I'll keep an eye on her," Kyle said suddenly. At Chris' confused look, he explained, "I can put her on my radar. That way I'll know when she is in danger. Just to make sure the Source doesn't decide to go after her."

"Do you think he will?" Chris questioned, worried again.

"No," Leo replied grimly. "I think he's too focused on us."

Chris looked between his parents and his brother, then over at Kyle. His heart wanted to see Bianca, wanted to see her very badly. But his head knew it was a bad idea, knew bringing her into this entire mess would be a disaster. He bit his lip and looked at the floor, his heart and head having a brief, but bitter, battle.

His head won out.

"Okay. I'll talk to her when this is all over," he agreed.

* * *

"How's Dad?" Prue asked, taking a seat at the kitchen table. She watched as her mother hunted through the fridge for something to drink. Kyle had gone to Magic School to cover Paige's classes. Leo had orbed away to check with the Elders, although his disappearing act had annoyed Piper to no end. Wyatt, Chris, and the twins were looking through the Book for nothing in particular and Piper and Paige were going through the books Chris had brought from Magic School. 

"He's fine," Phoebe replied, finally finding some milk and pulling out the carton. "Still at work. Worried about the Source and all, but I assured him that we have everything under control."

Prue tilted her chin back and stared up at her mother, her eyes reflecting her doubt. "Do we?"

"No," Phoebe was honest enough to reply. She poured herself a glass of milk, then asked, "Do you want something to drink also, Prue?"

"Nah, I'm good." Prue stared down at the table, playing with the cloth. She was silent for a long time, considering her choice of words, then said, "Mom, I don't think you and the Aunts are the only ones who need to sit down and talk." She looked up, meeting her mother's concerned gaze. "We all said and did things that we regret, but we still did them."

"If this is about what the warlock did…"

"It isn't," Prue said quietly. "Well, it is partially about that." She got up and walked over to her mother, her eyes unnaturally solemn. "This is also about Aunt Piper erasing my memory and lying to Chris and Wyatt for all those years. This is about Chris disappearing on us without any explanation and hiding out at Bianca's. This is about Wyatt going psycho and trashing the attic. This is about Kyle lying to us about not knowing where Chris was, and you and Dad arguing about stuff, and Piper and Leo disagreeing on how to handle Chris' magical training, and you not telling me that you vanquished your demonic child."

"What?" Phoebe demanded angrily, wanting to know which sister had informed her daughter about the child she was supposed to have with Cole.

"We all said things we regret, and we need to talk about it before the family falls apart. There still there Mom, all those hurt feelings. Even if we've pushed them aside for right now and focused on everything else, they are still there. Don't you see that?" Prue continued, not realizing how passionate her voice had gotten, how filled with fear and despair she sounded.

"Prue…?"

"And they'll all come out once we get thrown into another stressful situation again. Like they did last time. Another dark-lighter attack, a demon or warlock attack…Mom, if we don't talk about these things, they will come back to haunt us. I can feel it, Mom!"

"Prue? Are you alright?" Phoebe asked, reaching out and laying a hand on her daughter's shoulder.

Prue swallowed and shook her head. "I've got a bad feeling, Mom. I've had it for while. I don't know…" She closed her mind and let out a slow breath. "I'm scared," she murmured. "I'm really scared."

* * *

"They know who we are!" the Source hissed angrily, pacing restlessly. 

"Obviously," the Seer agreed in a subdued tone as she waved her hand over her pool and changed the water back to black. "But they do not know what we are doing, or how to stop us." She turned to the Source, worry creasing her forehead. "Although I do not know how long that will last."

"If we can distract them…" the Source suggested, his eyes flashing with red flames.

"What do you suggest?" the Seer asked quietly.

The Source was silent for a moment, contemplating his options. At last he turned to the Seer with a cool stare and asked, "Are the dark-lighters organized?"

"We have an army of them waiting for our command," the Seer replied. "Although they do not expect to be sent in until much later. Not for several days."

"It is time to move up our timetable," the Source ordered grimly. "Send in the dark-lighters." He took a deep breath and smiled, a chilling smile that did not reach his eyes. "Send them in _now_."

* * *

Next Chapter: Enter the Dark-Lighters 

Due: Friday 1/6


	22. Enter the DarkLighters

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: I've had a few questions about the Source, so to clear it all up, this is the original Source, not Cole. See, the way I look at it, Cole was never actually the Source. He was possessed by the Source, but he fought it all the time (as seen by the fact that he was willing to give his powers to the wizard in order to be with Phoebe). But that's just my point of view.

* * *

Chapter Twenty-One: Enter the Dark-Lighters

"Have you seen the large casserole pan?"

Phoebe glanced up at the question and gave Piper a confused look. A slight sarcastic smile tugged at her lips, and she drawled, "Yes, Piper. I took your pan despite the fact that I don't live here anymore and I can't save to cook my life."

Piper turned abruptly and glared at Phoebe, but the middle Halliwell sister just laughed and shook her head.

"Why do we have to have a family dinner now?" Wyatt asked, complaining slightly as he walked into the kitchen. Piper threw him an annoyed look, and he shrugged unapologetically. "It isn't that I don't love these meals, but I did have a date. I don't want to cancel on Courtney again, or I'll end up single."

"Single?" Chris mocked, following his older brother into the room. "You mean the great Twice Blessed is having problems attracting ladies?" He smirked, his green eyes filled with laughter. "I'm so shocked."

"I'm not single yet," Wyatt snapped. He shoved Chris playfully and continued, "Just cause you manage to hold down a relationship with a girl for two years doesn't mean I'm dating-challenged."

"Oh, don't be silly," Prue said as she too entered the kitchen. "We know you aren't dating-challenged." She shared a brief, conspiratorial look with Chris, then continued mischievously, "It's just that you don't really have any social skills, or sensitivity, or…"

"Why don't you invite Courtney over for dinner?" Piper suggested, trying and failing to conceal her smile at Chris' and Prue's antics.

Wyatt shook his head and vetoed the idea. "With the Source out there, possible planning on attacking us? Inviting Courtney over is a bad idea."

Chris ignored Piper's interruption and continued teasing Wyatt. He turned to Prue and said, "It isn't Wyatt's lack of social skills that makes him inferior to me in the dating realm. It's just that I've got better looks." He ran a hand through his messy hair, his smirk turning into a full blown grin at the sight of Wyatt's scowl. "And I guess that really isn't his fault… I was just luckier than most."

Wyatt barely even spared Chris a glance. He turned and glanced over at the counter, and his gaze fell on the open bag of flour Piper had been using to cook with. A wicked smirk crept into his face, and he glanced over at Phoebe. She met his eyes, knowing instinctively what he was about to do, and laughed.

Chris turned to Phoebe, confused, and raised one eyebrow.

And then everything made sense as the flour bag suddenly flew into the air and spewed quite a bit of its contents at the unsuspecting witch-lighter.

Prue, Wyatt, Phoebe, and Piper burst into howls of laughter, which drew the attention of Paige, Pen, and Mel in the sunroom. They came into the kitchen, seeking out the source of amusement, and stopped, stunned by the sight of Chris covered in white flour, green eyes flashing.

"You' re right, Chris," Wyatt gasped through his laughter. "You are more attractive than me. Particularly charming in that outfit." Tears of laughter filled his eyes as he spoke.

Chris reacted quickly, waving his hand and causing the three eggs on the counter to fly towards Wyatt. The Twice Blessed ducked, which unfortunately left Phoebe in their path. She managed to avoid one, but the other two hit her in the chest, and egg yolk spilled down the front of her shirt. Piper started laughing even harder, and Phoebe swung around to face her older sister.

"Oh, you think its funny?" she asked quietly, smiling dangerously. Reaching over to the counter, she grabbed the rest of the egg carton and threw three of the eggs at her sister. And another two at her oldest nephew just for good measure.

After all, if Wyatt hadn't ducked…

And everything went downhill from there.

By the time Jason showed up for the meal, half-an-hour later, the kitchen was covered in flour, egg, water, milk, baking soda, yeast, oil, and half a dozen other indiscernible cooking ingredients, and the entire Halliwell family had collapsed to the floor, laughing.

Jason swept his gaze over everyone in the room, then said dryly, "Well, that's funny. When Phoebe called, I was fairly certain she said we were having dinner here. I assumed that meant we were _eating_ the food, but…"

Piper pulled herself to her feet. She looked around the room for a moment, frowning slightly as she realized they'd pretty much used up everything she would have needed to cook dinner with. "I'll order pizza," she said at last, shrugging and wiping the flour and yeast from her face. She glanced back at the others on the floor and said, "You guys might want to shower."

Phoebe and Paige both stood up and immediately made their way up the stairs, heading for the nearest showers. Mel and Pen trudged behind, knowing they would have to wait to get cleaned up as there were only so many bathrooms in the house.

Prue watched the others leave, then turned to Wyatt and Chris and said, "Let the object of objection become but a dream as I cause the seen to become unseen." And instantly the three cousins, Piper, and the entire kitchen were clean.

"Personal gain, Prue," Piper admonished, although she was pleased to be instantly clean again.

"Yeah…" Prue agreed. She tilted her head to one side and thought about that for a moment, then glanced up at the ceiling and called out, "Sorry, Mr. Elders."

Wyatt and Chris both laughed, and the three cousins trooped out of the kitchen.

Jason watched them go, then sat down on a stool at the counter and glanced at Piper. "So…the Source, huh?"

"Yeah," Piper agreed. "The Source." She closed her eyes for a moment, thinking about the last time they had fought the Source. They had lost so much…Would it happen again.

"Everyone here seemed to be having fun despite the impending death and doom," Jason pointed out cheerfully.

Piper smiled and nodded. "Yeah. It's good to see everyone laugh," Piper murmured. "Especially Wyatt and Chris. Things have been so strained between them, you know. Ever since…"

"Yeah, I know," Jason said when Piper didn't finish the sentence. He cast around for a different, less depressing, subject, and finally asked, "Where are Kyle and Leo?"

"Kyle was covering one of Paige's classes. Leo's Up There," Piper replied. Her tone was slightly bitter as though she could not quite mask the annoyance she felt that he had left them, once again, to talk to the Elders. "He wanted to find something out about a shift in magic."

"A shift?" Jason asked, clearly not understanding.

"Yeah, I didn't really get it either. Red magic, and white magic, and blue and green… It apparently all made sense to him, though." Piper shrugged and turned away, hunting for a pizza take out menu among her newspaper clippings and recipes torn from books.

"Will he be back for dinner?"

Piper glanced over at Jason, her eyes narrowing. "He will be if he knows what's good for him," she replied. Leo had never missed a family dinner before, and if what that warlock did to him made him miss this one…

Well, there would be hell to pay.

* * *

"Leo!" Piper shouted angrily, glaring up at the ceiling. "Leo, get down here this instant."

"Maybe he's in a meeting, Mom," Chris suggested as he took a piece of pizza from the plate on the table. "You know he can't always hear us when he is in a meeting. The Elder's turn the volume off on us."

"They can do that?" Mel asked, looking over at Chris, surprised.

"Oh, yeah. White-lighters, or even witch-lighters, can put people on mute," Wyatt explained enthusiastically. The blonde ran a hand through his hair and glanced at the clock. He had been forced to bail on Courtney, but he had promised to swing by her apartment after dinner for a romantic dessert.

"You mean I can make it so that I can't hear Mom and Dad calling for me?" Pen questioned, intrigued by the idea.

"Don't even think about it, young lady," Paige threatened, narrowing her eyes at her smirking daughter. "Don't even think about it."

"Where is Uncle Kyle?" Prue asked as she bit into a slice of pizza.

"He's giving Mom some space," Mel whispered to her cousin in an undertone. Prue shot her a quizzical glance, and Mel shrugged, clearly not knowing what to think of the situation.

"I thought the whole point of this dinner was for us to meet and talk about stuff?" Prue asked. Phoebe gave her a warning look, telling her silently not to bring up issues that were only for Paige and Kyle to talk about, but Prue ignored her. She was still unable to shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen if they didn't resolve their issues.

"Well, how come Uncle Kyle gets to skip but you won't let me bail to see Courtney?" Wyatt whined. "I am, after all, twenty-five."

"Then stop sounding like a thirteen-year-old," Chris replied, grinning mockingly.

"Hey!" Pen snapped. "Nothing wrong with being thirteen."

"Well, girls do mature sooner than boys," Mel said thoughtfully. "Maybe we're more mature now than Wyatt was at our age."

"Mel, you're more mature now than Wyatt is at twenty-five," Prue replied, sticking out her tongue at Wyatt.

"'Cause you're not immature at all," Wyatt shot back, rolling his eyes and smiling.

"Wonder what Wyatt would have been like as a girl," Pen mused. "Maybe more mature…"

"We know what he would have been like," Piper said quietly, her voice breaking. She looked away, her heart heavy, as she thought yet again about the daughter she might have had. After a moment of awkward silence, she asked no one in particular, "This phantom girl…how old do you think she was?"

"Melinda?" Chris asked, having no idea where this was going. "I don't know…mid-twenties, I guess."

Wyatt nodded, eyeing his mother. "Are you saying that I might have been Melinda is I was a girl?" he asked, confused.

Phoebe answered for her sister, seeing that Piper was too choked up to reply. "It was in a visit to the future that we made, when our sister Prue was still alive. Piper and Leo had a daughter… It could be her."

"So in one timeline I'm evil, and in the other, I'm a girl?" Wyatt questioned in disbelief. "Great. Just great." He rolled his eyes again.

"Why didn't you tell us this before?" Chris demanded. "Why didn't you tell us when Wyatt first mentioned her?"

Piper shrugged. "I'm telling you now," she answered in a tone that made it quite clear she would not allow herself to be questioned about that.

Chris opened his mouth to reply, when the sound of orbing caused him to turn around and glance at the hallway. He expected to see the bright blue and white of a white-lighter's orbs, and was shocked instead to see that the orbs were pure black.

"Dark-lighters!" Chris shouted, jumping to his feet and taking a defensive stance.

The room was suddenly filled with dark-lighters. They appeared everywhere, by the windows, in the hallway, next to the table, in front of the sofa, between the chairs. Each one was armed with a crossbow and a quiver of deadly arrows.

"Wyatt, get the potions from the kitchen!" Piper ordered quickly. "Everyone with white-lighter blood get out of here!"

"Paige, take Jason," Phoebe instructed.

Wyatt orbed the potions into the dining room, and then summoned Excaliber. Mel, Pen, and Chris all orbed out, albeit reluctantly. Paige grabbed Jason and prepared to orb out with him, but a dark-lighter fired a arrow at her and she was forced to drop Jason's hand and duck out of the way.

Phoebe grabbed Jason by the shoulders and pushed him towards the stairs. "Get out of here," she instructed, turning back to make sure her sisters, daughter, and nephew were all okay.

"I can help!" Jason hissed as he quickly counted the dark-lighters. There appeared to be fifteen or twenty, but they kept orbing to different places that he couldn't tell exactly.

"You don't have any powers," Phoebe replied.

"Neither do you," Jason shot out as he ducked an arrow, pulling Phoebe at of harm's way as well.

"Please, Jason!" Phoebe begged, and the desperation in her voice made Jason pause. He nodded slowly and raced towards the stairs. His flight went unnoticed by the dark-lighters, all of whom were intent on attacking the Charmed Ones and their children.

Piper and Phoebe were throwing potions with deadly accuracy, while Wyatt was beheading dark-lighter's left and right. Prue was using her elemental powers to vanquish with wind and fire.

But the dark-lighters kept coming.

Paige appeared at Jason's side in a swirl of orbs and reached for his hand. The two of them hurried up the stairs and, once they were out of the battle, Paige prepared to orb.

At that moment, a dark-lighter managed to grab Prue's arms and pin them behind her back, preventing her from conjuring elements. As Prue struggled to break free, another dark-lighter picked up an athame from the kitchen table and advanced forward, preparing to throw the knife. He was only a few feet away from Prue, close enough that he couldn't miss.

Jason paused on the stairs and glanced back, his eyes falling on. Realizing his daughter's predicament, he turned and ran down the steps towards her. He grabbed a plate from the kitchen counter, not at all sure of what it was he was doing, and swung it wildly.

The plate smashed into the shoulder of the dark-lighter holding Prue, causing him to cry out and loose his grip and the young Halliwell. The other dark-lighter threw the athame at Prue, but Prue, released from her captor's grip, dropped to the floor and rolled away. The athame struck the first dark-lighter in the chest, instantly vanquishing him.

Jason sighed a breath of relief, but it did not last long.

Before Jason knew what was happening, before he had time to react, he felt the sharp prick of something hitting him in the chest, then a searing pain. He heard Paige yelling out to him, was vaguely aware of her moving away from the stairs and orbing to his side, detachedly noted the arrow that had pierced his chest, and then the world faded to black.

Paige orbed to her brother-in-law's side and knelt down next to him. She grabbed onto his arms, prepared to orb him Up There for Leo to heal, when she heard Piper scream out a warning.

She turned to late and the dark-lighter arrow hit her in the shoulder. She cried out in pain and slumped forward as the poison began to rapidly spread through her body. Her vision blurred, her ears began to ring, and she fell, her body collapsing over Jason's still form.

* * *

Next Chapter: Two Points For Honesty 

Next Chapter After That: Mending Fences, Burning Bridges

Due: 1/20

Sorry that there will be a long delay in the next update, I am going out of town (and away from all computers and internet) for two weeks. Since it is such a long time between this chapter and the next, I'll post two chapters on my next update.


	23. Two Points for Honesty

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's Note: Thanks to all who reviewed the last chapter. I managed to finish this chapter earlier than expected, so I'm posting it now instead of on Friday. The quote at the beginning is from the song "Two Points for Honesty" (hence the title of the chapter) by Guster.

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Two: Two Points For Honesty

_If that's all you will be  
You'll be a waste of time  
You've dreamed a thousand dreams  
None seem to stick in your mind  
Two points for honesty  
It must make you sad to know that  
Nobody cares at all_

"Are you sure that Phoebe saw the Source and his Seer?" Nathaniel asked, his face troubled as he walked next to Leo. The two Elders were pacing back and forth Up There, discussing Prue's premonition and Phoebe's revelation.

Leo nodded. "That's what Phoebe said," he replied, running a hand over his face and through his hair. He took a shaky breath and shrugged, worried.

"But, that doesn't make any sense," Nathaniel objected. "If the Source and the Seer had been reborn, we would know about it. We would have sensed it."

"You've missed things in the past," Leo pointed out dryly, thinking of Gideon and the Avatars. "You've missed important things…"

"True," Nathaniel agreed, casting a sympathetic glance at his colleague. "We have, regrettably, failed to notice some important things. But this…" Nathaniel paused and looked around him, watching as the surrounding white-lighters and Elders hurried back and forth. They had announced the news as soon as Leo had reported it, and everyone was on edge. The Source was dangerous, possibly the most dangerous demon anyone had ever faced, and they were worried.

Piper's angry voice suddenly floated up to them, calling Leo, and Nathaniel glanced questioningly at Leo. "Are you going to answer her calls?" he asked, surprised that Leo had not immediately orbed away.

Leo shook his head. "In a minute," he replied. "She's just calling about dinner. I'll join her in a moment." He closed his eyes and shook his head, worried and stressed, and filled with nameless dread.

Nathaniel frowned at Leo but said nothing. Normally the man raced off the minute any of his family called, so the fact that he remained behind now was surprising. But Nathaniel was one of the Elders who always believed that Leo spent too much time with his family, and not enough time focusing on his calling, and so he did not question the other Elder further.

"Leo, for the Source and the Seer to cross over from the other side…well, that is different from just sensing a new evil rising or the Avatars organizing. They had to both actually come back to life, and that…that we would have sensed."

"Because it takes so much power?" Leo asked. He shrugged and replied, "Then you must have missed something. Because they are back."

"Perhaps…" Nathaniel mused. He looked away thoughtfully.

Leo snorted. He opened his mouth, intent on replying that the Elders were just grasping at straws, and that they had obviously been fooled by evil, yet again, when he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen, a pain that took his breath away.

"Leo, what is it?" Nathaniel asked worriedly.

"Paige. She's hurt," he gasped, orbing out to find the injured witch-lighter.

* * *

"Paige!" Piper screamed as she saw her sister fall over Jason's body. Phoebe had already run across the room, and she was kneeling next to the still forms of her husband and sister. Prue shoved the coffee table over and dove behind it, seeking safety as she used her powers to vanquish the dark-lighters. 

Wyatt turned and dropped Excalibur, conjuring energy balls in both hands. He threw them quickly and with deadly accuracy, and the two dark-lighters closest to Paige and Jason were incinerated.

But more kept appearing.

One of the dark-lighters backhanded Phoebe across the room, and she hit the wall and slid to the floor, stunned. Piper grabbed a potions bottle and threw it at the dark-lighter, but he black-orbed out of the way, reappeared behind her, and fired an arrow. Piper spun around in time to duck out of the way, but two more dark-lighters came to stand behind her, trapping her in a circle and blocking her from her sisters. Unable to call on her powers, she was helpless to defend herself.

Wyatt lifted Excalibur again and fought towards his mother, the dangerous sword whistling through the air. A dark-lighter standing behind Piper lifted an athame, preparing to strike the Halliwell matriarch, and Wyatt lifted the legendary sword, ready to throw it at the dark-lighter who dared to attack his mother.

Neither had a chance to do anything. The dark-lighter suddenly exploded into a thousand tiny pieces, the athame crashing harmlessly to the ground.

All eyes turned towards the door to the sunroom. Pen was standing there, both hands outstretched, her face twisted into fury as she took in the sight of her fallen mother and uncle, of Prue trapped behind the coffee, of Piper surrounded. She flicked her wrists again, and another dark-lighter turned to ash.

A moment later Mel and Chris appeared behind Pen, and they too instantly took the offensive. Both Mel and Chris used their telekinetic powers to shove the dark-lights away from Piper, sending them sprawling to the floor. Mel then hurried to Pen's side, and the twins worked with surprising efficiency, vanquishing several of the dark-lighters before any of them had a chance to respond to the young witches' presences.

Chris orbed to Paige's side and placed a hand on her neck, relieved to find a pulse. He reached over to Jason, wanting to check his uncle as well, but a dark-lighter appeared in front of him, Piper screamed out a terrified warning, and Chris was forced to abruptly orb away. He reappeared by the door to the kitchen, and, with a telekinetic shrug, sent several sharp objects flying threw the air. They each hit various targets, and the number of dark-lighters in the room dwindled rapidly.

Wyatt finished off several others with sweeps of his blade, Pen and Mel eliminated the few dark-lighters that had begun to descend on Paige's and Jason's still forms, Prue shot fire from her hands at the two dark-lighters who were advancing on a still stunned Phoebe, and Piper vanquished the last of the dark-lighters with accurately thrown potions bottles.

For a moment, a dead silence fell over the group as they each stared around in relief, then the air next to Paige was filled with bright white lights, and Leo materialized next to the fatally wounded Charmed One. Kyle appeared a moment later, his face white with fear, and he ran to his wife's side.

"Leo, heal Phoebe," Piper instructed. "Wyatt, heal Jason. Kyle, heal Paige." She but her lip anxiously. "Hurry people!"

Kyle extended his hands over Paige's body, watching in relief as the golden glow appeared. Wyatt knelt down next to Jason and followed suit, his eyes filled with concern and worry. Leo crossed the room to Phoebe and gently placed a hand on her head were a nasty gash was beginning to appear.

Phoebe was the first to awake. With a jolt, she opened her eyes and gasped for breath, her face draining of color as she demanded, "Prue? Jason?"

"I'm here, Mom," Prue reassured her mother, walking across the room. Phoebe stood shakily and pulled Prue into a hug as the two turned to stare at Paige and Jason.

Paige's eyes fluttered open and she groaned and rolled over. "Ow…" She pushed away from Kyle and tried to stand up, but her vision blurred slightly and she fell unsteadily into her husband's arms. "Mel, Pen…"

"We're okay, Mom," Mel said, stepping over to her parents. "We're all okay."

Jason's eyes snapped open and he shoved himself to a sitting position, calling, "Prue? Phoebe? What…what happened?"

"You almost died," Wyatt remarked, pulling Jason to his feet. Jason stared, uncomprehendingly at Wyatt, then turned and took a few shaky steps to the sofa, sinking into it in shock. Wyatt stared at him, sympathy in his eyes, and said, "I healed you, though." There was an awkward pause, then Wyatt continued dryly, "You're welcome."

* * *

Piper paced back and forth across the kitchen floor, each step pounding with fury. Chris and Leo stood by the counter, each eyeing the irate Charmed One warily. Wyatt was perched on a stool at the table, Excalibur leaning against the chair at his side. The Twice Blessed was not too concerned about his mother's rising temper, especially since her anger was not directed at him, but he still did not want to be in the same room with her when she finally exploded. 

"I specifically told you to orb away, Chris," Piper said at last, trying to keep her voice calm.

"And I did. But I came back because you needed help," Chris snapped. He ran a hand through his hair and fixed his green eyes on his mother with a piercing stare. "I thought you were going to stop excluding me from magic?"

Piper paused in her pacing long enough to stare at Chris with a thoughtful expression, then she answered in a voice of forced calm, "Asking you to leave was not excluding you from magic, Chris. I was just trying to protect you."

"You can't protect me from everything," Chris retorted.

"Your mother is right," Leo said gently, cutting into the conversation. "When dark-lighters attack, everyone with white-lighter blood has to leave. Even Paige, Kyle, and I."

Chris frowned at his father. "Paige came back because Jason was in trouble."

"And she almost died because of it," Piper pointed out acerbically.

Chris pushed himself away from the counter and stared down at the tile floor, then said defiantly, "Wyatt stays to fight." He raised his eyes to meet Piper's gaze and continued in a cold voice, "You don't try to protect Wyatt."

"Whoa, Chris, leave me out of this," Wyatt said quickly, raising his hands in defense as three sets of eyes turned to look at him. He shot an ingratiating smile to his mother and said, "Maybe I should go and…" he gestured to the door, "just go…"

"Wimp," Chris muttered under his breath as Wyatt beat a hasty retreat from the family argument. He turned to his mother and asked petulantly, "Why does Wyatt get to stay?"

"Because he is the Twice Blessed," Piper explained patiently.

"So he's better than me?" Chris demanded.

"No!" Piper hissed, frustrated and annoyed at Chris' inferiority complex. The neurotic white-lighter from the future had had an inferiority complex about Wyatt as well, and Piper had hoped that this would change the second time around. The fact that it had not worried her to no end, and she hesitated, wanting to choose her words carefully. "Chris, Wyatt has more powers than you do. That is a simple fact, one I am sure you recognize."

Chris nodded mutely, his gaze still smoldering with anger and hurt.

"This doesn't make him better than you, but it does mean that there are things that he can do, that you can't," Piper murmured, trying to sound soothing. "I am just trying to keep you safe and alive, and I can't do that unless you trust me."

"Why do you want to protect me so badly?" Chris asked.

"Because you're my son!" Piper replied, shocked at the question.

"Right. I'm your family," Chris agreed. "And family protects each other…"

Piper nodded slowly, unsure where Chris was going with this.

"So when do I get the chance to protect _my_ family, Mom? When do I get the chance to prove that I can do this?" Chris questioned, his voice choked with emotion.

"Honey…" Piper started, but Chris shook his head and waved a hand at her, signaling her not to say anything.

"Never mind, Mom, it doesn't really matter anyway." He looked over at the door to the dining room and shrugged, wrapping his arms around his chest. "I guess I'll go see what I can find in those books I brought back from the Magic School library." He slumped from the room quietly, his eyes downcast and frustrated.

"And you!" Piper snarled, spinning around to Leo the minute Chris was gone. "I called for you and you didn't come! You missed the family dinner."

"I was talking to a fellow Elder about the Source and the Seer," Leo explained defensively, still watching his younger son's despondent figure disappear into the dining room. "And I came the moment I felt Paige in danger."

"Did you hear me?" Piper demanded. "When I was calling for you to come during dinner, did you hear me?"

Leo sighed. "I told you, Piper, I was talking to a fellow Elder about…"

Piper cut him off in a quiet, controlled, and chillingly dangerous voice. "Did you hear me?" she repeated.

Leo closed his eyes and replied honestly, "Yes."

"And you didn't come? What if it had been something important, Leo? What if it had been life threatening?" Piper hissed.

Leo rolled his eyes. "I would have known if it was, and I would have come in a heartbeat. Like I said, I got here the minute Paige was hurt. But I don't think a family dinner qualifies as an emergency," Leo finished emphatically, gesturing around the kitchen. "It's just a meal and there is a powerfully evil demon out there trying to kill us all!"

"It wasn't just a meal!" Piper snapped. "We wanted to sit and talk and try to move past the argument we had and what the warlock did." Piper stormed over to a chair by the table and flung her herself into it. "Although I'm starting to wonder if you care at all about that!"

"What do you mean?" Leo asked, hurt at the implied accusation.

"You don't really seem to be fighting what the warlock did. I mean, you're still blowing us off for the Greater Good," Piper spat bitterly.

"I am fighting it!" Leo defended himself furiously. "But _you_ weren't hit by the light, _you_ don't know how hard it is to overcome it! And I am doing the best that I can!"

"Well it isn't enough!" Piper hissed.

Leo reeled back as though he had been slapped. Piper turned to look up at him, regret appearing instantly in her eyes as she realized what she had said, but before she could open her mouth to speak, Leo had orbed out of the room, leaving a dismal silence behind.

* * *

"I told you to leave!" Phoebe hissed angrily, storming into her bedroom and slamming the door behind her. 

Jason looked up from where he had been sitting at the foot of the bed, his face pale and drawn, and replied in an equally livid tone, "The demon was about to stab Prue!"

"So you decided to get yourself almost murdered? We could have handled it!" Phoebe retorted, collapsing into a chair opposite her husband and glaring at him.

"You weren't going to get there in time, Phoebe. We both know that," Jason countered. He leaned forward, resting his head in his hands and drawing slow breaths.

"Are you okay?" Phoebe asked at last.

"I almost died," Jason replied, his voice muffled and soft. "That's never happened to me before." He looked up at Phoebe. "I almost died," he repeated, incredulous.

Phoebe nodded slowly. Jason had never participated in a fight like that before. Sometimes he would get attacked by a demon or warlock who was targeting the Charmed Ones in a bid for power, but Leo, Kyle, or Paige always orbed him away before any actual harm could befall him. And there were times when he would watch the twins, Prue, and Wyatt in the sunroom of the Manor while their mothers and aunts vanquished demons in the attic.

But this was the first time he had almost died.

"You're very pale, have you had anything to eat?" Phoebe asked gently, reigning in her anger for now.

"I don't think I could keep it down," Jason admitted.

"Some water, then?" Phoebe pressed, getting up and walking over to the nightstand where a bottle of water sat. She handed the water to Jason and watched as he took a few sips, then said, "I know you wanted to save Prue. And I know you did save Prue. But all the same… Jason, you have to stay away from all this. I can't lose you."

Jason frowned and swallowed another mouthful of water. "Phoebe, I understand. Really, I do. I mean, Paige almost died trying to protect me today. I get that in a fight I am just a liability." He swallowed another sip and felt some of the color and heat return to his tired face.

"Then you'll stay out of magic?" Phoebe asked hopefully.

Jason looked over at her and shook his head slowly. "I want to, Phoebe. I don't want to make this any more difficult for you than it already is. I don't want to cause you more pain or worry. And I don't want to almost die again. But…" He closed his eyes and fell back onto the bed. "But if a demon points a weapon at you or Prue and prepares to strike…I _can't_ promise that I won't try to save you two."

"Jason…" Phoebe began, but she stopped, because she knew that Jason was speaking the truth. No matter how much he did not want to cause her anxiety or hurt, he could not leave them unprotected and vulnerable. It wasn't the type of person he was.

"I just can't promise that," Jason repeated.

* * *

Next Chapter: Mending Fences, Burning Bridges 

Due: Friday 1/20


	24. Mending Fences, Burning Bridges

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's Note: Thanks to all who reviewed. This chapter is a little sad at the end, so just a warning about that. However it was something that needed to happen for the story to work out the way I wanted. Also, it is short, but I promise the next chapter will be longer.

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Three: Mending Fences, Burning Bridges

"Are Mel and Pen in bed?" Paige asked wearily as she took a seat next to Kyle of the sofa in their apartment. Kyle nodded, and Paige continued, "You should have seen them fight today."

"Watch my daughters throw themselves in harms way?" Kyle quipped. "Thanks, but I think I'll pass." He ran a hand through his hair and drew a deep breath. "I guess I had better go."

"They're Charmed, you know," Paige commented, not responding to Kyle's last comment. "Mel and Pen and Prue. The next generations of Charmed Ones." She leaned her head against Kyle's shoulder. "They've got a destiny, and we can't protect them from it."

Kyle wrapped his arm around Paige, glad for the peace that momentarily existed between. Things had been so strained over the past few days, and he wanted, more than anything else, to be able to move on as though this had never happened. As though they were still the perfect married couple with the perfect kids.

"I almost died today," Paige mentioned.

"That happens a lot," Kyle replied, although he was much more disturbed by the fact than he allowed his words or tone to betray.

"I was scared," Paige whispered. She closed her eyes for a moment. "I was scared of dying without ever getting a chance to mend things with you."

Kyle kissed her on the cheek. "You know your sisters and I wouldn't let you die."

"I don't need time anymore," Paige continued. She opened her eyes and sat up fully, turning to stare at Kyle. "I've thought about it, and I've realized I'm not mad at you. You did what you thought was right, and I love you, and I trust you, and I don't want us to be separated."

"I love you two, Paige," Kyle murmured, leaning into kiss her again. A moment before his lips could touch hers, however, he paused and sighed in frustration. His eyes still locked on Paige, he asked, "Did you want something, Mel?"

Paige turned sharply to see her daughter standing behind them in the doorway to the room, a horrified expression on her face.

"No," Mel said quickly, raising both hands. "You do whatever it is you are doing and I'm just going to go back into my room and close my eyes and pretend that I never saw any of that!" She turned on her heel and disappeared, leaving her parents alone.

Paige glanced over at Kyle. "Maybe we should do somewhere where there is less a chance of being interrupted?" she suggested with a sly smirk.

Kyle raised his eyebrows, and the two orbed out of the room.

* * *

"So, are you going to tell me what you're all moody about or should I start guessing?" Wyatt asked dryly as he watched his brother pace back and forth across the room. 

Chris glanced over at Wyatt and shrugged. "It's nothing."

"You're doing the whole withdrawn-weight-of-the-world-on-my-shoulders-but-I'm-not-going-to-tell-anyone-about-it-thing again," Wyatt remarked in annoyance. "The Chris I grew up with would have told me what was wrong."

"The Chris you grew up with didn't have to worry about you killing him!" Chris snapped back, realizing a moment too late what he had said. He turned quickly to Wyatt, and saw the look of hurt that flashed through his brother's blue eyes. "I didn't mean that, Wy. Really, I didn't."

Wyatt shrugged. "It's fine," he said quietly. "Don't worry about it, I'm not upset."

Chris raised an eyebrow skeptically and commented, "Now who's the one who's being withdrawn?"

Wyatt sat down on the bed and said, "Fine. I'm annoyed and frustrated and upset because I was evil in another timeline and killed everybody, and apparently made your life a living hell and murdered Bianca and was a horrible older brother."

Chris stared at Wyatt for a moment, then let a small smirk slip onto his features. "Don't forget about the timeline where you were a _girl_."

Wyatt laughed and threw a pillow at Chris. "Oh, shut up," he snapped. There was a momentary silence, then Wyatt asked hesitantly, "Is it difficult for you to confide in me now that you've got all those other memories?"

Chris frowned, thinking about the question. "I don't think it is you, Wy. I think it is just hard for me to confide in anyone." He took a seat on the bed as well and ran a hand through his hair. "What about you?" he asked. "The warlock attacked you as well. How do you feel?"

Wyatt shrugged. "Well, when the dark-lighter's where about to kill us all I was angry…so angry I could barely control it. But I guess that didn't really mattered because I was supposed to be angry at the dark-lighters…" He shrugged again. "I don't know, Chris. I haven't felt much different since when I tried to torture Latere, but I'm still worried, you know. Something could go wrong and I could go off the deep end."

"And your family will be here to pull you back again," Chris said instantly, smiling.

"Thanks," Wyatt breathed. There was another pause, this time slightly awkward, then Wyatt pressed, "So why are you all sullen?"

Chris slanted a look at his brother, then turned away and said, "Inferiority complex."

"Huh?"

Chris drew a sharp breath and repeated, "Inferiority complex."

It took Wyatt a moment to figure out what exactly Chris was saying, but then realization dawned and his eyes widened in surprise. "You have an inferiority complex about _me_?"

Chris nodded silently.

"How long have you had one?" Wyatt asked, surprised and confused.

"I don't know. It grew a lot after I got those memories," Chris explained softly. "I think the other Chris had a major inferiority complex about you."

Wyatt stared at his brother for a moment. He knew he should be kind and understanding and tell Chris that he was being ridiculous, but he didn't. Instead he laughed. He laughed so hard that tears streamed down his face and he had to clutch his sides and struggle for breath.

Chris stared at him in shock. Then his expression turned to one of annoyance and he threw a pillow at his older brother. The Twice Blessed caught it in mid air and dropped it on the floor.

"You've…got…an inferiority complex…about…about me?" Wyatt managed to gasp through his tears of laughter. "You've got…you feel…you…" he dissolved into another fit of laughter.

"Wyatt! This isn't funny!"

Wyatt wiped the tears out of his eyes and stared at Chris for a moment. Then he said slowly, "Christopher Perry Halliwell. The great witch-lighter who, despite his brother's persistent attempts to turn him evil, stays good, risks erasing his own existence to travel to the past and save said brother, who, by the way, had murdered his fiancée and many of his friends, and then deals with his parents' suspicion and hatred, and eventually gets himself killed to save the future and his family. And _you_ have an inferiority complex about _me_?"

Chris opened his mouth, found he had nothing to stay, and closed it again. "Huh," he managed at last. "Well, when you put it that way…"

* * *

"Leo!" Piper called to an empty room, running a hand through her hair and swallowing her frustration when Leo did not appear. "Leo, please, can we talk? I'm sorry about what I said!" There was still no reply, so Piper tried a different tact. "Leo, I'm injured, maybe dying, you need to heal me!" Again, nothing. "Leo, if you don't get down here this instant…" The threat did not work either, and no white orbs appeared. "Leo, please!" 

Piper walked over to a chair and fell into it, tired and upset. "Leo, please, just come and talk to me. I'm sorry, I was upset, I didn't mean what I said." She wiped a tear away from her eyes and continued, "Do you remember how this all started? Our marriage? You proposed to me because it was a way to keep the Elders from tearing us apart, and I accepted as a roomful of demonic guardians tried to kill me and my sisters," Piper whispered. "You became an Elder, and I thought my heart was going to break. You lost all your powers, and I thought we would live happily ever after. But things kept getting in the way, you know?"

"One trial after another," Leo murmured, echoing words he had spoken almost twenty-three years ago on the ghost plane as his body appeared in the room in a sudden flurry of orbs.

"But we made it," Piper replied, smiling through her tears. She walked over to Leo and hugged him, and he returned the hug. "I know how hard you fight to be a part of this family, and how many obstacles have been thrown in your way. Whatever it is you're doing, it is enough. It's _always_ enough."

* * *

Phoebe stared in dumbfounded silence at the papers in her hands. She had found them partially concealed under Jason's belongings on the kitchen table. She had been looking for his car keys, but had stopped as her eyes caught sight of the words printed neatly across the top of the sheet. Car keys now forgotten, she ran a hand over the smooth paper, her breath caught in her throat, as she read and reread the words. 

"Phoebe, did you find the keys…?" Jason asked as he entered the room. He let his sentence drift off as he noticed the papers in Phoebe's hands. His face paled slightly, his brown eyes widening with shock and discomfort.

"What is this?" Phoebe demanded, holding the papers away from her as though scared they would burn her. "How could you?"

"I wanted to tell you later," Jason explained, swallowing hesitantly and running a hand through his hair. "I was going to tell you after this whole thing with the Source worked out, when you weren't worried about it, when things were calmer… I'm sorry."

"Why?"

Jason took a seat at the table and said, "What happened last night, it made me realize that I can't do this. I can't be part of this family and not put myself in danger. And now I do see just how problematic that is for you…"

"I love you," Phoebe whispered, her voice breaking slightly. "I don't want this."

Jason shook his head and replied emphatically, "I don't want it either. But it's the only way. We both know that." He reached over and pulled Phoebe into a hug, and she dropped the papers on the table next to him. They were silent for a moment in each other's embrace, each wishing things could be different, and knowing that they never would be.

Unseen by either of them, Prue appeared at the doorway of the kitchen. She frowned at her parents backs, wondering what had upset them so much. Her heart leapt into her throat. Had there been another attack? Aunt Piper, Uncle Leo, Aunt Paige, Uncle Kyle? Where they okay? What about Chris and Wyatt? Mel and Pen?

Then her eyes fell on the papers on the table, and her heart plummeted into her stomach. She read the words at the top of the front page, then turned and slipped, still unnoticed, from the room, tears coursing down her cheeks.

Once she reached her bedroom, she yanked the door open and flung herself onto the bed, burying her face in the pillows. For a long moment, she stayed there, tears staining her white pillow case. Then she rolled over onto her back and stared up at the ceiling.

She had seen it coming for a while now, but it didn't make it any better once it actually happened. It didn't make it hurt any less.

The words from the top of the papers flashed through her mind, bold and black and unyielding.

Petition for Divorce.

* * *

Next Chapter: Beginning, Middle, and End

Due: Wednesday 1/25


	25. Beginning, Middle, and End

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: Okay, so pretty much no action happens in this chapter. Or the next one. But I do make my final revelations in them. I promise the chapters after the next two will be filled with action and I apologize for the slowness of this one.

Secondly, an important note: I had a couple questions in the reviews that I wanted to answer for everyone. First of all, in my story, Jason has never been truly exposed to the dangers of magic. You will note that, in the show, the only time he gets injured is when he and Phoebe are in that fantasy-desire world that Gith creates, and that wasn't even real. And then, when he is captured by the Swarm demons, Phoebe saves him before anything happens. I carried that through the rest of my story, so, although he has been attacked on a few occasions before, the last chapter was the first time he ever needed to be extensively healed. That was part of the reason he didn't really understand Phoebe's point of view, he had never almost died before.

Second question: about the warlock. The effects of the warlock are determined by how predisposed the person was to that perticular personality trait. Neither Wyatt nor Prue were that likely to revert to the people they were in the other life, so the warlock had less of an effect on them, although you will see a bit more of thier hidden personalities in future chapters. Leo is much more predisposed to follow his 'calling,' so he is much more adversely affected. And Chris' withdrawn and neurotic issues will continue to plague him for much of the story since he was the most affected, having already had half-memories returned to him when the warlock struck.

As always, please read and review.

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Four: Beginning, Middle, and End

Leo flipped distractedly through the books on the table, scanning the titles. Wyatt was sitting on the floor, drumming his fingers on the cover of a large book in front of him. Kyle sat hunched on the sofa behind him, holding an open book in his hand, and staring in the direction of the kitchen. Phoebe had come storming through the sunroom just a few moments ago, and disappeared into the kitchen, her face streaked with tears, and Kyle and Leo couldn't help but wonder what had upset the witch so much. Unfortunately, Prue, who had followed her mother into the house, refused to answer either of her uncles' numerous questions, and had instead wandered up the stairs to be alone.

"What do you think happened?" Kyle asked, breaking the tense silence at last.

Leo shrugged and opened a book. "I don't know," he murmured, "but I'm guessing it has something to do with Jason." He stared down at the open page on his lap. "What book do you have, Wyatt?"

"Through the Looking Glass: Entries into Other Dimensions," Wyatt read the title in a droll voice. He shared an exasperated look with Kyle, then continued, "I don't know what we are going to find in these books."

"Whatever the Source is doing, bringing out our dormant personalities, returning Chris' memories, and whatever he is doing with Melinda, it obviously has something to do with other dimensions," Leo pointed out.

"Yes, but what?" Wyatt muttered, flipping the book open to the first page. He stared at the entry, then read in a bored monotone, "When Alice fell down the rabbit hole into Wonderland, she entered through a temporary portal that sometimes occurs between worlds. The portal was most likely created by a rip in the stream of fate, a change to destiny. The worlds were forced to shift, to accommodate this change…" He paused, confused. "Wait, 'Alice in Wonderland' actually _happened_?"

"Oh, yes," Kyle answered vaguely, reading the open page of his own book. "Alice was a witch who fell through a portal into a plane that existed parallel to our own." He hummed softly as he read the words on the page, then sighed and shut the book with a snap, stood up, and stretched. "When she got back, she told her entire story to Lewis Carroll. I think he changed a few of the parts to make sure magic didn't get exposed… He was a witch too, you know," Kyle added off-handedly.

Wyatt blinked, rolled his eyes, and replied sarcastically, "Of course he was."

* * *

"And then when we figured out that Prue had overheard we tried to talk to her but she didn't want to talk at all and she stormed away…" Phoebe finished her story desolately. 

"Oh, sweetie, I'm so sorry," Paige whispered as she hugged her middle sister. Phoebe had just finished telling them about the divorce, and her eyes were filled with tears, her voice hoarse from all the sobs she tried to keep quiet.

Piper handed Phoebe a mug of tea and said, "I know this is hard for you, but you have to believe that it will work out okay in the end. You and Jason will work through this."

"No," Phoebe replied, shaking her head slowly. "No, Piper, we won't. I finally figured out what I think Jason has known all along; this marriage was never going to work."

"You love him," Piper replied.

"And I loved Cole," Phoebe said. She took a sip of tea and sighed. "And Dad loved Mom. And Grams loved her first husband before she turned into that I-hate-all-men person. Sometimes love isn't enough." She swallowed another mouthful of tea, new tears forming in her eyes.

"But I don't understand why he wants the divorce," Paige said at last, breaking the tense silence that had fallen. "Not being married to you isn't going to make him less worried about the demons that attack us all. He still loves you, and he is still Prue's father."

"It isn't about that," Phoebe explained. "Jason...Jason finally realized why I wanted to keep him out of magic. He finally understood my point of view and how valid it was, but he is still not able to compromise on his own feelings..." She sighed and closed her eyes. "He sees he can't be a part of magic but he knows he can't be a part of this family and not be a part of magic...and that only left him one choice."

"Well, I don't think he should have just given up like that," Paige snapped angrily. "Kyle and I have had our problems, but we made it. So did Piper and Leo."

"Paige!" Piper admonished quietly. Under her breath she muttered, "Be supportive, don't say that they were wrong for giving up on the marriage." Although in all honesty, Piper knew that she agreed with her youngest sister. Jason should not have given up without a fight.

"He didn't," Phoebe murmured. She looked at Piper, a smile playing around the edge of her lips. "You were thinking that Jason shouldn't have given up without fighting for this relationship. For us." She sighed again and ran a hand through her short hair. "He has been fighting. We both have, for almost twenty years. But Kyle and Leo are white-lighters, they are magical, and they are part of everything this family does. Jason is a mortal, and it is different. And I think Mom and Dad's relationship set a precedent for that..."

"Mom's and Dad's relationship was broken up by..." Piper stopped, shooting a worried look at Paige as she realized what she had been about to say.

Phoebe shook her head, cutting in before Paige had a chance to retort to the implied comment. "Sam didn't break up the marriage. Dad walked out on us after a demon nearly killed you when you were little, Piper." She tilted her head to one side, thinking. "He walked out because of magic, because of what it was doing to Mom and Grams and us."

There was a silence as each of the sisters contemplated what Phoebe has said. There was truth in her words, as much as none of them wanted to admit it. Maybe marriage between a witch and a mortal just wasn't meant to work out. Finally, Piper broke the depressed mood and said, "At least Jason will be there for Prue. He isn't walking away from her, like Dad did with us."

"I know," Phoebe agreed. "He still wants to be in her life, in my life, and I am grateful for that." She placed the teacup back on the counter. "I just never knew how much it would hurt."

Piper and Paige hugged her again, meeting each other's gaze over Phoebe's head. Neither of them knew what to say to make it better, so Piper simply rubbed circles on Phoebe's back, and Paige whispered comfortingly, "We'll always be here for you. Remember that."

* * *

"Prue? You okay?" Mel asked as she walked down the stairs from the attic to the second floor to find her cousin standing in the middle of the hallway, staring listlessly off into space, her dark eyes rimmed with red. 

"Fine," Prue replied unemotionally.

Pen came down the steps after Mel, her eyes narrowed with suspicion. "You don't look fine," she countered, taking a few steps so that she was standing next to her sister. "You don't look anywhere close to fine."

Prue shrugged. "Have you seen Chris?"

Pen and Mel exchanged a brief glance, then Mel said, "I think he's still in his room." Chris normally did not sleep in late in the morning, but it was already ten o'clock and he had yet to get up. Wyatt had explained that they had stayed up late talking about the Source and the Seer, so Chris was probably tired. And Piper had expressly forbidden anyone from waking her younger son up on pain of never being fed by her again.

It was no idle threat, and nobody wanted to suffer the consequences.

"Oh…" Prue seemed disappointed by that. "Okay…"

"You could talk to us," Mel suggested. "Just because Chris is still asleep doesn't mean there isn't anyone here who will listen."

"Nah, I'm fine," Prue answered, waving away the younger Halliwell's concern and running a hand through her hair.

"You aren't fine," Pen countered. She tilted her head to one side, fear filling her features as an idea occurred to her. "Did Aunt Phoebe or Uncle Jason get attacked again? Did something happen?"

"No, they're fine. We're fine," Prue said dully, her tone revealing her true emotions. Her family was anything but fine.

"Prue…?"

"Stop asking me questions!" Prue hissed.

Pen took a step back from the venom in Prue's voice and looked uncomfortably at the ground, but Mel's temper flared instantly and she snapped back, "Stop excluding us from your 'cousin talks,' Prue. I get that we are only thirteen and that Chris and Wyatt have a full decade on us, but we are your family also and you can confide in us when something happens."

Prue raised an eyebrow at Mel's outburst, but said nothing.

Pen placed a hand on Mel's arm and shook her head at her emotional twin. Mel lapsed into frustrated silence, and Pen turned to Prue. "Look, what Mel is trying to say is that you always tell all of your problems to Chris and Wyatt, but we just want you to know that we are here to listen also. If you ever need us…" She pushed past Prue and made her way towards the stairs leading to the ground floor, gesturing for Mel to follow.

The had just reached the first step when Prue's voice called then back. "My parents are getting divorced."

* * *

Chris tapped his fingers on the side table and glanced around the empty room as though expecting someone to step out of the shadows and ask him what he was doing. He remained quiet and still for a moment, but when no one appeared, he sighed and lifted the phone cautiously. With one last cautionary glance about, he quickly punched in seven numbers and listened to the rings at the other end of the line. 

"Hello?"

Chris held his breath as he heard the familiar voice. He closed his eyes, picturing her silky hair falling over her tan skin and brown eyes, her slender fingers with perfectly manicured nails clutched around the phone, her lips slightly parted, as she waited for an answer.

He wanted to speak, to ask how she was, to tell her everything that had been happening, to just talk to her and listen to the sound of her voice, but something held him back.

_And what if the Source finds another way to bring out dormant personality traits?_

_You think the Source could turn her into the Bianca she was before…when she worked for Wyatt?_

_It is possible. I would say probable._

_Chris, we simply don't know what we are up against, and if there is even the slightest chance that the Source could bring back the assassin part of Bianca…do you really want to do that to her?_

Chris sighed and hung up the phone.

* * *

Lunch was a silent affair, each person noting Jason's absence. Chris was still subdued, unsure whether or not he should have spoken to Bianca when he called. Prue seemed a bit more cheerful than she had been before, and while Phoebe assumed that her daughter was just putting on a brave face, Mel and Pen knew that Prue had felt better after she had talked to them, and they were happy to have been able to help. 

After lunch, Chris and Wyatt walked to the attic to look through the Book of Shadows again, hoping that they might find something they had missed. Mel and Pen orbed back to Magic School because Paige had declared that they had missed far too many days as it was, and just because they were Halliwells did not automatically excuse them from school.

"But Mom, a great evil is going to try and kill us all! This is more important than school," Mel whined.

"I don't care," Paige retorted. "The world is always in danger, and if you stayed home from school every time a demon attacked, you would both still be in kindergarten!" She narrowed her eyes at her daughters. "End of discussion."

"Fine," Pen grumbled, recognizing a loosing battle when she saw one. "But don't blame me when the world ends." She and Mel exchanged dark looks and orbed away, although even their orbs seemed reluctant to leave.

Leo stared at the spot Pen had stood a moment before, his eyes unreadable. Then, unnoticed by the rest of the group, he slipped out of the dinning room.

"A charge is calling," Kyle said abruptly. He glanced over at Paige. "Call if you need anything, I shouldn't be gone to long." Paige nodded at him, and he orbed from the room, a pensive expression on his features.

"I'll clean up," Piper suggested. "Phoebe, Paige, why don't you guys start on some more potions in case the dark-lighters or any other demons attack before we get our powers back." She paused and shot an apprehensive glance at Phoebe. "Unless you would rather…"

"No," Phoebe said quickly, shaking her head. "I need to help out. I need to do something to keep busy right now."

"Alright," Piper agreed hesitantly. "Prue, can you help us in the kitchen?" Prue nodded and followed the her mother and youngest Aunt into the kitchen. Piper stood by the dining room table for a moment, watching the rest of the family depart, then shook her head. She hated this waiting, this feeling helpless so entirely helpless while her family suffered.

At least she had worked things out with Leo. And Chris did seem to be in a better mood today…

"Hello, Mother."

Piper spun around so quickly she nearly lost her balance. Stumbling slightly, she reached out and steady herself on a chair, her eyes widening as she took in the woman standing in front of her. She was everything Piper had ever imagined her to be. Tall, beautiful, powerfully magical, dark hair falling over brown eyes, lips twitched upwards into a tiny smirk, kind but cold at the same time.

"Hello, Melinda," Piper replied faintly. She glanced over at the kitchen, but her sisters were now gone behind the closed door. She twisted and looked at the sunroom, but she couldn't see Leo. She had half a mind to call one of them, but Melinda stopped her.

"Don't," the phantom girl said quickly. "I just want to talk to you."

"About what?" Piper replied suspiciously.

Melinda rolled her eyes. "Why are the people in this family so distrustful of strangers? I'm not going to hurt you."

"You're evil," Piper countered flatly, her eyes narrowing. "You work for the Source."

"Hardly," Melinda replied. She sent her mother a smile so sweet that Piper had to mentally remind herself that she could not trust this girl. "I'm not even real."

"Then how are you here?" Piper questioned, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"A lot of magic and a few ancient tricks by the Seer," Melinda replied easily. She took a few steps forward and sat down in front of Piper at the table. "The Source is doing much more than even the Elders realize, Mother." There was something in her voice that sounded almost like concern.

"What is he doing?" Piper pressed.

"I can't tell you," Melinda answered quickly, automatically. She saw Piper's hands twitch slightly, and smiled smugly. "You don't have powers, Mother. And even if you did, would you really blow up your own daughter?"

"Like you said earlier, Melinda, you aren't real," Piper replied coldly. But even as she said the words, she knew she would never have the strength to attack this phantom, evil or not. "Why can't you tell me what the Source is planning?"

Melinda sighed. "I'm not your daughter, Mother. I'm an image of her, a reflection, a shadow. Something pulled out of the fabric of the universe. And I have to follow the rules of the universe, and of the magic with which I was brought forth. There are some things I simply cannot do."

"Like helping us?" Piper demanded harshly.

"I _am_ helping you, if only you would listen," Melinda retorted heatedly. "But I can't answer that question. There are some lessons you have to learn for yourself."

Piper, managing to keep her temper somewhat under control, asked in a voice of forced calm, "Alright, then what can you tell me?"

Melinda was quiet for a moment, staring at her mother with an odd expression. It was hard to place, perhaps a mixture of love and anger. "I wish I could have been born, you know. I wish I would have had the chance to live in this world, to see you and Dad… a chance to be a Halliwell, to be real."

Piper felt her heart constrict painfully at those words. She had wanted a daughter so much, wanted her little girl from the moment she, Prue, and Phoebe had set foot in that other timeline. But now she had Wyatt and Chris, and she was happy with them. They were her children now, not this apparition standing in front of her and speaking riddles while her real family was in grave danger.

Hardening her heart, Piper replied coolly, "I guess fate decided to send me someone else."

Melinda raised an eyebrow. "Yes, it sent you Wyatt." She stood up abruptly, shoving the chair away from her. "You know, sometimes, fate goes by a different name."

"Can't you give me anything helpful?" Piper asked in annoyance. "A clue perhaps? Instead of speaking in riddles?"

Melinda flashed Piper a chilling smile. "I just gave you your clue, Mother," she answered, then she disappeared into thin air, leaving Piper alone with her troubled thoughts.

* * *

"Okay, I've read the entry on Werewolves six times now," Wyatt muttered. "I think we've read everything in the Book." He closed the cover and turned to look at Chris, who was standing next to the window, staring out at the sky. "Chris? You with me?" 

Chris turned and sent his brother a hesitant smile. "Yeah, sorry. My mind was elsewhere for a moment there." He walked to the sofa on the other side of the room and flopped into it. "I don't know what we expected to find in the Book anyway. We're obviously dealing with something so far beyond anything we've ever seen before."

"Yeah, I know," Wyatt replied. "I just…I just can't help but think that there is something really big and really important that is standing right in front of us. A clue to this whole mystery, if only we could figure out what it is…"

"Aunt Paige didn't marry Uncle Kyle in the other timeline," Chris said abruptly.

"Huh?" Wyatt asked, not following the non-sequitur.

"Aunt Paige married a guy named Richard and hand different children. Patricia and Adam." He closed his eyes for a moment, thinking. "Mel and Pen didn't exist."

Wyatt's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh…" He couldn't think of anything else to say.

Chris got up and started pacing. "The Source is trying to do something with different timelines, we've all agreed on that. But I don't understand what it could be. There are substantial differences between the timelines, it isn't as though he could bring back my other future." He ran a hand through his hair.

"True…" Wyatt agreed, eyeing his brother shrewdly. "Is that what your argument with Mel was about a few days ago?"

Chris nodded dumbly. "I erased Ria and Adam. I didn't just kill them, I erased them."

"And I was the Source of All Evil," Wyatt pointed out. "You saved me, you saved the world."

"I know," Chris replied, waving the comment aside. "That isn't the point. I'm over everything that happened..."

"Are you?" Wyatt cut in, tilting his head to the side and staring at his brother. Although Chris was much more open with them all than he had been the past few days, there were still moments when the shutters dropped over his green eyes and his voice became unemotional or impatient, and Wyatt couldn't help but wonder if the horrors of the other timeline would ever truly pass.

Chris paused mid stride and sighed. "No," he admitted truthfully, feeling something inside him squirm at admitting weakness. He tried to push it down, but it refused to go away, telling him insidiously that he could do everything on his own, that there was no need to involve everyone else. After a moment's pause, he finally gave in to the voice and turned to Wyatt with a tight smile, "But I will be."

"If you ever want to talk…" Wyatt offered, not entirely convinced.

"I know, I know," Chris replied with a grin, this time a real one. "If I ever want to talk the _entire _family is here to listen to me." He took a seat on the sofa again and switched the subject adroitly, not wanting to dwell on the matter of his other self. "But you really are missing the point."

"What is the point?"

"If Mel and Pen didn't exist in another timeline, and if Ria and Adam don't exist now, then how could the Source ever hope to bring out the old timeline. _Any_ old timeline? He may be able to bring himself and the Seer back from the dead, but he can't bring back someone who has never existed."

"He brought back Melinda," Wyatt countered.

"But she's not even real," Chris replied. "You said it yourself, when you sensed her she felt as though she wasn't entirely real."

"We don't even know for certain that the Source is trying to bring back any timeline," Wyatt pointed out. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the cushions.

"What else could he want?" Chris retorted. "If he wanted to kill us all, he would have done it by now. If he wanted to launch an attack on the entire magical community, he would have done that to. If he was just trying to organize the underworld, he wouldn't have needed to send dark-lighters and warlocks after us; it would have been a waste of his resources and incredibly foolish to try and get us involved."

Wyatt nodded slowly. "So where does that leave us?"

"Dazed and confused?" Chris quipped back.

* * *

"She told you that fate goes by a different name? That was her clue?" Paige asked incredulously. "Very useful." She rolled her eyes and took a seat on the rocking chair. 

Piper shot a glare at Paige. "Not helping," she admonished her youngest sister. The family had congregated in the sunroom after Piper had told them of her one-time daughter's appearance. Phoebe and Prue were sitting on the wicker loveseat, Leo was hunched over on the sofa, flipping through one of the books from the Magical School Library, and Chris and Wyatt were pacing the hardwood floor. Piper was leaning against the wall, watching them all. Kyle, Mel, and Pen where still gone.

Leo ignored most of the conversation as he read the words from the book on his lap. The sisters were arguing about Melinda, but he was too absorbed in his thoughts to notice. Memories kept flickering through his mind as different ideas began to form.

"What are you reading, Dad?" Wyatt asked, pausing in his pacing to glance over at his father.

Leo looked up, distracted, and answered, "Time and Space."

"Oh, Melinda said something about that book," Chris said, remembering the conversation he had had with the strange girl. "Something about it being really old."

"Well, that was helpful of her," Paige commented sarcastically, rolling her eyes again. Piper shot her another glare and she resumed her silent glowering, not knowing quite what to say.

"It is old," Leo answered absentmindedly. "It's been around for just this side of eternity." And he lapsed into silence, his eyes traveling up and down the page.

_At the beginning of eternity, white magic pulsated. Pure, untouched, unadulterated, it hummed with its own internal steady rhythm, echoing the undercurrents of the newly created world. It burned with the stars, grew with the plants, ran with the rivers, sung with the wind, and walked with the animals. _

_Wisps of blue, green, and yellow appeared, winding their way through the white. Controlled by witches and demons, the magic left behind a slowly fading blueprint of the war between good and evil, the war that would rage until the end of time. _

_But some magic would not be controlled. _

_Someone, witch or demon, dark-lighter or white-lighter, reached out for magic beyond their control, and the magic rebelled. As it fought to break free, its inner rhythm was thrown off balance, and it burst out of control, consuming everything around it. _

_And red magic was born. _

_The world fought against it, but it grew steadily, consuming other magic with rapid efficiency. Good and evil saw the magic, and they were afraid… _

Leo frowned, a long forgotten memory coming to the surface of his mind.

_Piper scanned the Book of Shadow's entry on the Hollow, her eyes worried. "Hmm, there's no mention of a vanquish here," she commented, concerned, looking up at Leo. _

_"You can't vanquish it. The last time it was unleashed it nearly decimated all magic, all things," Leo explained quickly, crossing his arms over his chest and frowning. _

_"The last time was unleashed?" Phoebe questioned. That didn't sound good. _

_"Eons ago. Good and evil had to join forces and use their strongest magic and even then all they could do is contain it." _

_"Okay, so if good and evil are seeing eye to eye on this one, who let it out?" Phoebe wanted to know. _

_But Piper had the answer. "The Source." _

_Leo nodded, agreeing. "If he was desperate enough." _

Leo sighed and closed his eyes. What was it that Wyatt read in that book about Alice in Wonderland?

_When Alice fell down the rabbit hole into Wonderland, she entered through a temporary portal that sometimes occurs between worlds. The portal was most likely created by a rip in the stream of fate, a change to destiny. The worlds were forced to shift, to accommodate this change… _

And what had Pen said?

_Don't blame me when the world ends. _

Leo opened his eyes and glanced back down at the book. He flipped through the pages, thinking, until another paragraph caught his eye. He read it slowly, fear growing in his stomach as he realizing with startling clarity what he hadn't seen before.

_The world changes everyday to accommodate the choices we make and the paths that we choose to follow. But every possible world must have some similarities, but only a few, in order to adequately respond to its ever changing existence. _

Leo shut the book with a snap, still lost in thought. Anna Carlson's father died the same day in both timelines. And Melinda had told Piper that fate sometimes goes by another name. And the other Elders didn't believe that the Source had truly come back.

Which meant…

"I know," Leo announced quietly, looking up at his family.

"Know what?" Piper asked, tearing her attention away from the argument she was having with Paige.

"I know what the Source is trying to do."

* * *

Okay, so I tried to give all the clues necessary for figuring out what the Source is going to do, but if you don't get it, that's probably because it was some random idea that my overactive and somewhat unusual immagination came up with and it isn't that obvious to anyone who doesn't think the way I do (which would encompass basically the rest of the world). But you are more than welcome to guess.

Next Chapter: Time and Space

Due: I have no idea. I'm a bit behind in my school work right now (and I've only been back at school for a little over a week, how do they expect us to have read so much by now?), so it may take me a while to write this next chapter. I'll try to post it within the week, but I can't promise anything.


	26. Time and Space

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: Okay, so this chapter is kind of short and has no action, but it is rather dense and philosophical. You might need to read it twice to understand everything. Please let me know if somehting isn't clear. I tried to make it all logical, but sometimes things are logical to me, and not so logical to everyone else.

Also, my version of hell is quite different from the demonic wasteland we saw when Cole was trapped there. So disregard everything you saw or heard in that episode. It has no bearing on this chapter's explanation.

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Five: Time and Space

"What?" Piper asked impatiently, taking a seat across from her husband and gesturing for him to explain. His face was pale, his eyes wide with shock, and it unnerved her to see him this worried. Her heart clenched tightly as fear gripped her, but she pushed it aside and stared at him calmly, knowing panic would do her no good.

Leo got up and started pacing, his expression weary and worn. "The Source isn't back," he said at last. "He's still trapped in hell."

"But Phoebe saw…" Paige started, but Leo cut her off.

"What Phoebe saw was the Source and the Seer still trapped in hell." He sighed and closed his eyes, thinking. "Hell takes many different shapes and forms, but those who are in it all share one thing. They suffer."

"So?"

"So they want to get out," Leo explained.

"The Source is trying to get out of hell?" Phoebe questioned. She frowned, trying to wrap her head around what that meant. "Wait, but if he is in hell, how is sending dark-lighters and the warlock after us? How did he bring Melinda back?"

"He must know how to connect with our world," Leo replied. "Contrary to popular belief, demons don't lose their powers when they get vanquished. That's why the Seer was still able to conjure images in a pool and summon Melinda. That's how Barbas was able to astral project out and influence Paige and Cole that one time he stole Cole's powers. Normally what goes on in hell doesn't effect our world, but if the Source and the Seer found a connection, a way to influence the events of this timeline… The Source astral projected to get the dark-lighters and Latere to work for him. And they probably didn't even know that he had astral projected, they thought he had actually escaped hell, and was back."

"So the Source can astral project? He couldn't do that before," Paige pointed out.

"All the properties of hell work just like this world. Which means that, if the Source were to kill a demon or warlock in hell, he could steal their powers," Leo replied, having an answer for everything.

"You can kill a demon that's already in hell?" Phoebe asked, confused. "But...isn't he already dead?"

"Physically, yes," Leo concured. "But magic doesn't die." He closed his eyes and thought over his next words. "If a demon or warlock that is already in hell dies, all it means is that they lose their powers. They are still around to endure the suffering, but they don't...they don't have the magic they had before. It's been transfered to someone else." He opened his eyes and looked at his rather confused family. "It's difficult to understand since no one has ever gone to hell and then come back and related it all to us." He shrugged apologetically. "We don't know all the details."

"Okay, so how exactly is the Source going to escape?" Chris asked.

"He is going to use fate," Leo answered.

"You mean he is destined to escape?" Piper wanted to know, thinking that it sounded very unfair for that to be true. They had already vanquished him numerous times, why did he have to keep coming back?

Leo sighed and shook his head slowly, trying to figure out how to explain what he meant. At last, he answered, "Not exactly. Let me explain it to you this was; there are points of connection in between the different timelines, different planes of existences. Places that intersect. We call it fate."

"Come again?" Paige asked, her eyebrows scrunched together in confusion.

"We call it fate, we say something is fated to happen," Leo explained. He paused for a moment, trying to think of an example, then he said, "Paige, do you remember when you accidentally got sent to Penny Halliwell's past?"

Paige snickered and replied, "Of course, Sun God."

The others in the room exchanged curious glances as Leo flushed crimson. The embarrassed Elder glared at his sister-in-law for a moment, then continued determinedly, "You saved your grandfather from that evil witch…Robin, was it?" Paige nodded, and Leo said, "But he was killed anyway. Because he was fated to die on that day, and when it is someone's time to die…"

"Death will find them, no matter what," Piper said quietly, understanding what Leo was saying. "The same way that in all three futures that I know of, you were together."

"You weren't, though," Phoebe objected. "In the timeline with Melinda, you and he were divorced."

"But we had a child," Piper replied softly, her eyes misting slightly at the mention of the daughter she would never have. "And I know I was only there for a day, but I know that… that Leo and I were still a family, even if we weren't together. I could feel it…"

"And just look at the fact that we had a child," Leo continued, growing more animated as he spoke. "In one timeline it was Melinda, in this one it is Wyatt. Two completely different people, one real, one not, but still born at the same time. We were fated to have a child on that day. The day the magic stopped. And think about Anna Carlson. Her father died on the same day in both timelines, even though they were two completely different circumstances."

"He still died," Chris murmured, nodding.

"And it doesn't even have to be big things," Leo continued. "It can be smaller things that are fated. Maybe I am destined to run into someone on a certain day at a certain time. A casual two sentence conversation with a guy I never see again… It doesn't matter what I do before or after that meeting, I _will_ run into that person at the designated time. In any timeline."

"It's fate," Paige agreed.

"It's more than that," Leo replied. "It's the connection between this reality and all the realities that could have existed. It's the universe's way of creating stability, creating ties."

"Why does it need to do that?" Chris asked, understanding the concept, but not the reasons behind it.

"Because the universe is sentient. And one of its many jobs is to keep the world together and in balance. Every person has the potential for an infinite number of lives, and the universe has to cope with that diversity. It does that by creating these intersections, these events that will happen no matter what. Everything else can change, but as long as there are enough intersections, the world can manage."

"So what is the Source trying to do?" Phoebe questioned wearily. "Get rid of these points?"

"Actually," Leo replied, "I think he is trying to do the opposite."

"What?"

"He wouldn't be able to erase fate. No matter how powerful he is, he can't do that. What he could do, however, is to try and create more points of intersection. More fate," Leo elaborated.

"How?" Piper demanded. "And what would that do?"

Leo sighed and paused his pacing. He turned and looked at Piper, his eyes serious. "He can do it by blurring lines of distinction between different timelines. Like he did by returning part of Chris' memories of his other self. Or when he had that warlock attack us, the one with the ability to bring out different aspects of the person. Or by using the Seer's powers to call for Melinda."

"He is bringing other timelines and inserting them into our own," Piper mused. "Okay, I get that, but why? What does it accomplish for him?"

"The Hollow," Leo said. He laughed suddenly, bitterly, and shook his head, marveling out how perfectly the Source had managed to come up with this plan. It was crazy, it was dangerous, it was complicated…and it could very well work.

"What about the Hollow?" Paige asked, biting her lip in fear. The last time the Hollow had been released, it had almost destroyed them all.

"The Source learned from the last battle with you that he could not control the Hollow. But the Hollow, like all magic, follows the laws of this world. The world is kept in a fine balance, and if one thing goes wrong everything swings out of control. Because of this, once the world is overloaded with these fate-connections, the magic will continue creating more. Like the domino effect."

"So if the Source create enough intersecting points, then when he releases the Hollow, the Hollow would continue along the path he started? It would create a world ruled entirely by fate?" Chris questioned, his eyebrows drawn together as he tried to understand what his father was saying.

Leo nodded solemnly and rubbed the bridge of his nose, the animation fading from his body as he took a slow breath. "Yes."

"So?" Wyatt asked, speaking up for the first time since the conversation started.

"If we had a world ruled entirely by fate, everything we did would be predetermined," Leo explained. "We would have no free will, no choice in anything."

"Okay, so I see why that is bad, but I still don't get why the Source would do that. What does he stand to gain?" Wyatt questioned.

Leo swallowed and said hesitantly, "Well, that's the problem. He would gain nothing."

"If he won't gain anything, why would he bother?" Chris asked.

"I didn't say he wouldn't gain anything," Leo replied. "I said he would gain _nothing_. As in, the total destruction of everything. Annihilation. Emptiness."

"How would he get that and why would he want it?" Wyatt pressed.

"He wants it because he is trapped in hell right now," Leo answered, finally sitting down on the sofa. "This is his only way out. And if he is desperate enough, he is probably willing to try anything to get out, even if it means his own destruction. As long as he doesn't exist, he can't end up in hell. And trust me, _anything _is better than hell."

"And why would he get nothing?" Piper asked, her heart plummeting even further into stomach.

"It has to do with good and evil. You see, if no one has a choice in anything, then the concepts of good and evil disappear. How can you say someone is evil when they had no choice in what they did?"

"Okay, so what is wrong with no good and evil?" Chris asked.

"The universe exists because of good and evil," Leo said. It was one lesson that the Avatars had taught, a lesson that he had learned well. "One cannot survive without the other, and the universe cannot survive without them. If they cease to exist, the world ceases as well. All of their destinies, their fates, if you will, are so intertwined that… Well, if the Source can destroy one, the other will follow."

"That's why he's sent the dark-lighters after us, why he manipulated us into losing our powers," Phoebe muttered. "Every time we sit down to talk about our problems and try to get our powers back, he interferes. Not to try and defeat us, but just to keep us distracted so that we couldn't stop him. "

A silence fell over the family as they contemplated Phoebe's comment and what Leo had revealed. Then Prue spoke up for the first time, her voice quiet and scared. "So…the Source is going to bring about the end of everything? Erase us all?"

And there was only one answer Leo could give.

"Yes."

* * *

"They know," the Seer said dully, her voice slightly worried. She turned and looked over at the Source. "They know what we're trying to do." 

"But they don't know how to stop us," the Source replied. "All we need to do is keep them occupied long enough..." He drew a sharp breath, his eyes darkening in displeasure. "It's time we stepped up our game."

* * *

Next Chapter: Desperate Measures 

Due: Friday 2/10


	27. Desperate Measures

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: This chapter marks the turning point of my story, that is, I switch from problems within the Halliwell family, to problems outside the Halliwell family. The rest of the story will be a rollercoster ride as the Charmed Ones race to stop the Source before it is too late. Obviously there will still be family moments, but not as much continual angst.

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Six: Desperate Measures

"Okay, so how about we just hang out around the Hollow and make sure no one frees it?" Paige suggested, staring at the entry of the Book of Shadows.

"Is there anyway to undo the connections the Source made?" Piper asked, pacing the floor. "I know you said what the warlock did is permanent, but what about the others? Can we somehow erase Chris' memories and send Melinda back?"

"Erase my memories?" Chris asked, not liking the sound of the plan. "I don't know about that." Prue and Wyatt turned to look at him, eyebrows raised, and he held up his hands quickly. "But if it saves the world…"

"Or is there anyway to vanquish the Source…again…well, I guess not vanquish because he's not back…but, you know…" Phoebe frowned, letting the sentence drift off as several sets of eyes turned to look at her in a mixture of amusement and bewilderment.

"Uh, no, Phoebe, we don't actually," Paige replied, shaking her head in confusion.

"You know, get rid of his powers or something," Phoebe elaborated in exasperation, rolling her eyes as though it had been obvious.

"Oh…" Piper drawled. She turned to Paige. "Did you get that from what she said?"

"No. I don't recall that her suggestion had anything to do with binding powers, actually," Paige replied thoughtfully, a grin tugging at the corners of her mouth.

Phoebe scowled at both of them and unceremoniously threw herself onto the sofa.

The entire family had gathered in the attic and Leo had gone through his explanation several more times until everyone understood what he was talking about. Kyle had immediately agreed with Leo's rationalization and orbed away to tell the Elders. He had arrived only moments later, with the twins in tow, and the family had spent the rest of the afternoon trying to come up with a plan.

It wasn't going well.

While the sisters threw out suggestions, the twins and Leo flipped through the pages of the Magic School books, and Wyatt and Chris hunted through the Book for something that might help, Kyle took a much more methodical approach. Hunched over on the sofa, he jotted down the Source's entire plan, starting from the beginning, returning Chris' memories, and listing all of his steps to date. He stared at the paper for a long time, lost in thought, then said abruptly, "I've got an idea."

A silence fell over the others as they all turned to look at him hopefully.

Kyle got up and walked over to the Book's podium, spreading his note paper across the surface of the Book. The others gathered around as he traced his finger over the notes, quickly explaining what he had done. "This is every step in the Source's overall plan. First he return's Chris' other memories, then he causes the fight between us all, brings Melinda back, sends the warlock after us, and organizes dark-lighters to attack." He pointed to the second column. "This column here is everything that we think he is going to do. Cause more points of intersection, release the Hollow, end the world."

"Okay," Prue said, staring at the paper. "We get all that. How does it help us?"

Kyle pointed to the first column again and said, "These have already all happened. We can't prevent them, and, as far as I know, they are all irreversible, so we can't even try to change them back. What we have to focus on is the second column."

"How do we stop anything in the second column?" Piper asked, reading over the list.

It was Leo who answered this time. "Well, we have no idea what points of intersection the Source is going to try to create, so that might be impractical to stop. Our best bet is to make sure he doesn't release the Hollow, or if he does, that we have a way of putting it back."

"And to do any of that," Piper mused, "we're going to need our powers back."

"How do we get them?" Phoebe wanted to know, worried. "Every time we try to sit down and talk, the Source sends someone after us."

An idea occurred to Mel, and she paled dramatically. "Do you think the Source is spying on us?" she asked, biting her lip nervously.

"Well, if the Seer has access to her powers and is working with the Source," Leo answered glumly, "I would say it is quite possible."

"So they could send demons after us at any moment?" Pen asked incredulously.

"We have to be prepared for any attack," Phoebe nodded slowly, thinking. "The Source and the Seer will continue their plans to keep us distracted."

"We can't just sit around and wait," Piper said angrily. "If all we ever do is stay on the defensive…"

"…we'll have no chance of winning this," Paige finished. "We need to take the offensive."

"Well, with the Seer having access to her powers, I don't know anywhere we could go to strategize where she wouldn't be able to eavesdrop on us," Kyle pointed out, turning to look at Leo. "Except possibly…"

"Magic School?" Leo nodded. "We might want to move our base of operations there for a while. At least we wouldn't have to worry about constant attacks."

"Unless the Source finds a way to get past the protections around the school," Wyatt pointed out.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there," Phoebe said. "In the meantime, we need to work on getting our powers back."

"I don't understand it," Paige complained. "We normally get our powers back once we learned our lesson. Well, we've learned it, so why haven't we gotten them back?"

"Well, there is obviously another lesson that we still have to learn," Piper replied, although she was not thrilled about the situation either.

Kyle turned and walked back to the sofa. "If the Source manages to release the Hollow, which at this point is quite likely, we need a way to get it back into it's box."

"We needed to work with evil last time to do it," Paige replied. She frowned for a moment, then shook her head and said, "The Seer was the one who helped us last time. She didn't want the world to end any more than we did. Why is she helping the Source now?"

"Because she is in hell now, and horrible suffering makes people do really desperate things,' Chris answered automatically, his voice tinged with something nobody else in the room could understand, as though he was talking about a memory none of them had. All eyes swung around to face him, and his expression became more guarded. "I'm going to go get some water," he announced, walking out of the room briskly.

There was a dead silence for a moment, then Kyle said, "I think Chris might still be the one in the most danger. He is a walking, breathing, living connection between two worlds, now that he has these memories and personalities back. The Source is going to play on that as much as possible."

"How do we protect him?" Paige murmured, worried.

"Chris is not going to want to be protected," Prue said quietly, cutting into the conversation. Another silence fell as each person contemplated the truth in her words. Then she switched subjects and said, "Okay, so how do we get a demon to work with us?"

"That will be tricky," Leo replied, tearing his eyes away from the door his son had just left through and glancing over at Prue. "No demon is going to openly betray the Source, even if the Source is still in hell. It's just too dangerous. Not to mention the fact that the Source has probably lied to his minions, or at least not revealed the full truth. They don't know that he is trying to end everything, and they certainly aren't going to take my word over his."

"Why do we need a demon?" Pen piped up.

"Because the Hollow can only be contained if good and evil join forces," Kyle explained. "It creates a sort of neutral magic barrier around the containment box."

"Neutral?" Wyatt questioned. "Good and evil cancel each other out?" He thought about it for a moment, then said, "What if we got someone neutral to put the Hollow back? Then we wouldn't need good and evil."

"You mean like the Avatars?" Phoebe considered the thought. "They would clearly have enough power to do it, but I just don't think that summoning them is a good idea, especially since they always have an ulterior motive."

"I second that," Piper added dryly, casting a look at her husband. "I think we've had enough of Avatars to keep us for the rest of our lives." Leo smiled at her and nodded, thinking the same thing.

Wyatt glanced between his parents, outwardly agreeing with his mother's statement, but inwardly wondering if they would have a choice. As Chris said, suffering made people do desperate things, and if they ran out of all other options…

* * *

Trell glanced around the cave, his eyes adjusting to the dim light, and snarled. "Who dares to summon me?" he demanded coldly. The cave appeared to be empty, but he knew not to believe everything his senses told him for they could easily be deceived. 

"I did," a voice said.

Trell looked around but saw no one. He pushed the hood of his clock back from his face, revealing red skin and flashing yellow eyes. In the center of his forehead, directly between his two eyes, a tribal marking had been carved into his skin. It was a circle with a line through it, slanted at a diagonal. His black lips stretched to reveal pointed teeth as he ordered, "Show yourself."

A flash of flame appeared in the room and a man was standing before him. He was robed entirely in black, his face and body hidden from view behind the folds of fabric. But Trell did not need to see his face, he could sense the power radiating from the other demon.

Trell dropped to his knees. "My Liege," he murmured. "I have heard rumors of your return, but I was too afraid to hope. I did not want to be disappointed." There was something about the demon in front of him that did not seem quite right. It was most definitely the Source, but… Trell cocked his head to the side. There was just something a little off…as though he wasn't really there. Perhaps an astral projection?

"I am back," the Source replied. "And I have a mission for you."

"Anything," Trell replied, pushing his concern and doubt aside.

* * *

Chris sipped a glass of water and watched as his brother leaned against the sofa and stared off into space. They were sitting in a large room in Magic School, filled with sofas, chairs, and tables. The walls were lined with book shelves, the floor was carpeted in a mahogany rug. Piper and Leo were pacing restlessly, they seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. Kyle was drumming his fingers on a table, thinking up plans and counter plans, while Paige and Phoebe leaned against the walls in silent contemplation. Mel and Pen sat on the floor in the center of the room, trying to focus on their homework, but that was proving difficult as well. 

"There are a lot of demons that have betrayed the Source," Wyatt said at last. "Like… vampires, right? And they got exiled? We could work with them. Or…Khail demons? I read about them in the Book."

"We vanquished the vampires a long time ago," Piper replied wearily. "They aren't around anymore. But what do you know about the Khail?" she continued with interest.

"That if they were disloyal enough to betray the Source and warrant exile," Leo interrupted sensibly, "I hardly think we could trust them not to betray us."

"They wouldn't want to bring about the end of the world," Prue countered.

"But we don't want to get ourselves vanquished while saving it," Leo pointed out, slanting a look at his niece.

"Fair point," she admitted reluctantly.

"Are the vampires still in the Book of Shadows?" Paige asked. Wyatt nodded, and she considered this for a moment, then said, "Why don't we get rid of entries after we vanquish the evil?"

"Because they invariably end up coming back," Phoebe replied grimly, shaking her head. "Just like the Source."

"Oh. Right." Paige walked over to a chair and sunk into it exhaustedly.

"Well, what about the timelines. Can we hazard any guesses of what the Source will do next?" Mel asked.

Pen glanced at her twin for a moment and frowned. "Hazard a guess? When did you start talking like a grown up?" Mel rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue at Pen, but Pen just shrugged and said, "Well, it sounds _weird_."

Kyle considered the question, then said, "I still think that the Source will focus mostly on the other Chris' timeline because this Chris is here now, and it creates a nice link for him to play with. But we should also think about any other timelines we've ever been in. The Source might go for those as well."

"Great," Piper muttered. "Let's think up all the details of the few million different dimensions and realities we've been sent to over the past few decades."

"This is why I think that it would be near impossible to stop the Source that way. We need to focus on the Hollow," Leo replied.

"But we can't ignore the other timelines, especially if the Source is going to do something with them that will affect us," Phoebe countered.

"Okay, so what was happening in the other timeline right now?" Wyatt asked, glancing at his younger brother.

Chris frowned and tried to think. "Well, I'd traveled back to the past at this point," he said slowly. "I think…I think this was around the time that you started your cool glowing eye trick to scare away all of Mom's dates." He took another sip of water, remembering that incident.

"Oh, I'd forgotten all about that," Piper said, turning to Wyatt. "You little rot! And what with Paige selling her soul that week I never got a chance to punish you for that."

"What were you going to do, only give him one cookie instead of two for snack?" Paige snickered. Piper rounded on her, but the youngest Charmed One just grinned back. "Face it, Piper, you spoiled Wyatt rotten."

"I did not!" Piper argued back, blushing slightly.

"Oh, please," Phoebe cut in. "As soon as Chris told you something was going to happen to Wyatt in the future, you wouldn't stop fawning over him. Or do I need to remind you of your incredibly stupid 'give-up-on-all-love' plan?"

Piper blushed even deeper at that and replied, "Well, you were the one who decided to conjure Mr. Right, and look how well that turned out."

"You didn't give up on love, did you?" Phoebe smirked.

Wyatt glanced back and forth between his mother and aunts, trying to absorb everything that he had just heard. "Okay, let me get this straight. I can apparently make my eyes glow, and I did this to scare off Mom's dates? Wait, why was Mom dating?"

Piper and Leo exchanged glances. They hadn't told Wyatt, Prue, or the twins about their few month separation. After an awkward hesitation, Piper said, "Your father and I were…on a break."

"What?" Wyatt spluttered, uncomprehending. He looked between his parents. "And you _dated_ other people? You dated _other_ _people_ besides Dad? Why would you do that? And before Chris was born, too!"

"Well, it is nice to see that his reaction hasn't changed in the past twenty-three years," Paige commented.

Leo ruffled his son's hair and said, "That's because he's got a lot of common sense."

"But it all worked out in the end, because David reminded Piper not to give up on true love, and everything's okay now."

Wyatt scrunched his eyebrows together, trying to recall if he had ever heard the name David before. Coming up blank, he glanced at Piper and asked, "Who's David, Mom?"

"Mr. Right. A magical man that Phoebe conjured," Piper explained. "Neither Leo nor Chris were incredibly pleased with that decision, but Chris at least was pleased that I didn't give up on Leo…" She shot a look at her son and was surprised to find that he had lapsed into a depressed and sullen silence.

Chris glanced at his mother and then looked away. He was, admittedly, quite glad that David had reminded Piper of the importance of love. But there was another memory playing through his mind, one he couldn't quite ignore no matter how much he would have liked.

_We don't need your help, Chris. Not anymore. I will get my son back myself, and when I do, I never want to see you again. Understand?_

Wyatt frowned at Chris's sullen expression and said, "Hey, Chris? You with us? We were talking about Mom and this guy…"

"I know what you were talking about," Chris cut in curtly, his face drawn. "I just…" Finding he had nothing to say, he glanced around at his family for a moment instead. He could see the look in Piper's eyes, and knew that she had finally figured out what it was that bothered him so much. Realizing that he didn't want to deal with whatever she was going to say, he muttered, "I'm going to…" he held up his now empty water glass, "…get some water," then turned and left the room.

"He's been drinking like a fish," Mel observed, shaking her head.

Piper spun around to face her niece so quickly that Mel took a step back in fear. "What do you mean?" the Halliwell matriarch demanded, her face paling at what Mel had said.

"He's been drinking a lot of water…" Mel explained in a faint voice, not understanding the look that Piper was giving her.

Wyatt reached out and put a hand on Mel's shoulder. "Mel, the saying 'drinking like a fish' refers to, uh…" he shot a look at Kyle and Paige, then said uncomfortably, "drinking lots of alcohol."

"Ohhhh," Mel replied, drawing out the word. She thought back to all the times she had heard the saying used, and continued, "You know, that makes a lot more sense now…"

* * *

Chris orbed into the empty Manor and looked around. It was the first time he had ever been in the house when it was this…quiet. Normally the sounds of loud debating and laughter, of demon vanquishes and family meals, of adult conversations and children playing, permeated the walls and hung in the air. But not now, not today. 

It was rare for the entire family to leave. Normally whoever was in danger would stay at Magic School while the rest of the family congregated in the attic, gathering around the Book, and searching for ways to save their loved one. But this time it was different, this time they were all in serious danger, and the house stood empty and silent.

Chris walked through the kitchen into the sunroom. Light streamed in through the window, illuminating the room. He licked his dry lips as he looked around. The quiet was unnerving and comforting at the same time.

"Chris?"

Chris turned to see Leo standing in the doorway behind him. The brunette witch-lighter gave a slight smile, pushing his dark hair out of his eyes. "Hey, Dad."

"You know, they have water in Magic School also," Leo remarked.

Chris blinked, puzzled, until he remembered that he had told his family he was going for more water. "Yeah…I know."

"I'm guessing you didn't leave because you were thirsty, though," Leo continued, taking a seat on the sofa and gesturing for his son to do the same.

Chris complied grudgingly, taking a seat on the chair opposite his father. "If this is one of those 'share your feelings and have a father-son bonding moment' things…"

Leo shook his head and cut Chris off. "What father-son pair do you know that bonds by _sharing their feelings_?" he asked skeptically.

That elicited a small chuckle from Chris, who nodded in agreement. "Fair point."

"About what happened with the Order," Leo began, but this time Chris cut him off.

"Forget it, Dad. It doesn't matter anymore. Different life, different me."

Leo shook his head. "It isn't that simple, Chris. Not anymore. Not know that you remember that moment."

"In vivid detail," Chris muttered darkly, trying to erase the memory of his mother's cold words and indifferent glare. There was an awkward pause, then he said, "Mom was well within her rights to be upset with me. I probably would have done the same if someone I didn't really trust got one of my family members kidnapped by an elite demonic cult."

"So your mother kicking you out of the house doesn't bother you at all?" Leo questioned, his tone belying his disbelief.

"No," Chris replied stoutly.

Leo shook his head. "You can tell us how you feel, Chris. You don't have to withdraw into yourself like the other Chris did. You…you can talk to us."

Another silence fell, then Chris shrugged and looked around. "It's quiet," he said at last, switching the subject. "I don't think I've ever been here when no one else was."

"Well, that's because we have three families who basically live here, even though they have houses of their own," Leo pointed out. "Your mother keeps promising to talk to her sisters about that, but somehow she just keeps…_forgetting_."

Chris laughed outright at that. Both he and Leo knew perfectly well that Piper loved having the entire family congregate in her house. It was hard for her to watch her sisters move out and start their own families, and she was thrilled that they came back so frequently.

Of course, having the entire extended Halliwell family under one roof almost everyday could become tiresome at a point…

"I don't know what we are going to do when you and Wyatt get married," Leo continued, shaking his head at the thought.

"I don't think Bianca will want to live here,' Chris said without thinking. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he shook his head and wondered where exactly they had come from. He had never talked to Bianca about living together, although he was fairly certain that his earlier assessment was correct; she would not want to live in the Manor.

Leo frowned at his son's comment. Bianca may be a different person in this life, but she was still an assassin. Switching the subject, the Elder said, "Anyway, I was fairly certain that, when we all went to Magic School, we agreed not to return to the Manor unless absolutely necessary and only if we were accompanied by at least two other people."

"Well, actually, you and Mom agreed and then dictated," Chris pointed out.

Leo rolled his eyes and replied, "Fine, we dictated. Either way, it isn't safe for you to be here by yourself."

"You have no idea how true that is, Leo," a voice said.

Leo and Chris jumped to their feet and spun around, and Leo breathed out a panicked word. "Trell…"

The demon grinned evilly, his yellow eyes filled with mocking pleasure. "You remember me? Oh, I am touched." And before either Leo or Chris could react, Trell raised both his hands and created a force field between them. Then he nodded to the clock on the wall and said, "Well, would you look at the time?" Just as the minute hand advanced to 4:37, Trell threw the force field, and it enveloped the witch-lighter and the Elder in a flurry of light.

When the light disappeared, Trell looked around the now empty room, pleased with himself, and shimmered out.

In the plane between worlds in which Magic School was situated, Kyle suddenly dropped the book he was holding and fought back the flood of panic that welled up within him as he realized that Chris and Leo had dropped off his radar.

* * *

Chris jumped to his feet the moment he and his father hit solid ground and looked around in confusion. "Where are we?" he demanded incredulously, taking in the rocky cliffs, rolling sand desert, and brilliant blue sky. He glanced over at his father, but Leo wasn't even paying attention to his son. He too was looking out at the landscape, but his look was filled with more than just confusion. 

"We need to find a way out of here," Leo said quickly, turning to look behind him. A sheer cliff rose several feet in the air. To the right, the rocks created a labyrinth of passage ways. To the left, the land sloped downwards and opened into the desert. "Or at least to some place safe."

"You think we're in danger?" Chris asked, pushing forward without a thought. "From something other than dehydration, I mean?"

Leo opened his mouth to answer, then paused, confusion gracing his features. "You don't recognized this?" he asked. At Chris' incredulous look, Leo said, "We've been here before. In the past. That memory wasn't returned?"

"No," Chris said. "I mean…the place feels familiar, but I can't remember it. What happened? Who was that demon?" he asked as he continued walking.

"Chris, don't go to far ahead," Leo asked, scrambling after his son. "Trell is an upper level demon with the ability to send people through portals in time. And a rather vicious grudge against me. It wouldn't have been to hard for the Source to obtain his services…" He caught up to Chris and placed a hand on the witch-lighter's arm, stopping him. "Wait, I don't like this, we should go back."

"Back to what?" Chris asked. "The giant stone wall behind us? I don't think the way out is over there."

"I don't know if there is a way out," Leo replied, frustrated. "Trell's portals close the minute someone steps through them. It was a one-way door, and it's gone now."

"So we're stuck here? In the middle of nowhere?" Chris demanded. "Great, just great." He rolled his eyes and continued walking down the rocks, reaching out with his hands to steady himself on the cliff's edge.

"Chris, I don't think…"

But Chris was no longer listening to his father. He pushed ahead, trying to reach the bottom of the rocks, as though hoping to find something down there that would be of help. He paused for a moment and looked around, shielding his eyes from the harsh glare of the sun with one hand. The rocks beneath his feet were slippery, and a few loose pebbles rolled down the hill and settled several feet below him in a mound. Placing his hands out to steady himself, he crept down rocks. Something about this place seemed vaguely familiar to him, like a half-forgotten dream.

"Chris, don't…" Leo's frustrated yell of warning came to late as the young witch-lighter lost his footing and went tumbling down the rocks to the bottom. Leo hurried after his son, trying his best to keep his balance, all the while keeping his eyes open for the other terror he knew was lurking somewhere around.

"Dad? What are you so worried about?" Chris asked, pulling himself to his feet. He dusted the dirt from his pants and shirt and looked at the tiny scratches that had appeared on his hands.

"Look, you obviously don't remember being here," Leo started anxiously, grabbing his son and pulling him back towards the cliff, "but I do, and we've got bigger problems…"

The sentence was lost in the sudden roar that filled the air, and the two men spun around in time to see the flash of sharp teeth and feel the warmth of the gigantic creature's breath, before it reared up over them, its body blocking out the sun, ready to pounce.

* * *

Next Chapter: Old Enemies 

Due: Wed 2/15


	28. Old Enemies

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's Note: I know this chapter is really short, and has no Halliwell people in it at all, which is why there will be another, much longer, update in two days. I just needed to introduce a new character, and this was the only way to do it. Also, in response to a few reviews, the Khail and Trell are my own invention, so you won't recognize them from the show.

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Old Enemies

Aula wrung her hands nervously and glanced around the empty house. She closed her eyes again, trying to concentrate, but nothing seemed to work. Try as she might, she couldn't get a reading on her witch. 

She was a young white-lighter, having only received her wings a few weeks ago. This witch was her first test, and she was already failing miserably.

Aula flicked her long blonde hair out of her eyes and wrapped her coat tighter around herself. The house was cold, too cold. She frowned, wondering why her charge would have turned the heat down so much. Shaking her head in frustration, she turned and walked slowly up the stairs. At the top of the stairs was her charge's bedroom. She pushed the door open and stepped inside, glancing around.

The room seemed untouched. The drapes were drawn back from the window, and sunlight streamed in through the glass. The bed was made, the side table was neatly organized, a glass of half-drunken water sat on the top of the immaculate dresser in the corner. Nothing was out of place.

Aula walked over to the bed and ran her hand over the comforter. It was a dark red comforter, dotted with tiny blue flowers. The sheets underneath were red as well, and the pillowcase was a navy blue. A stuffed bear leaned against the backboard of the bed, and two unopened envelopes had been tossed at the foot of the bed.

"Sammy, where are you?" Aula whispered, desperate to find the missing witch.

"She's gone, white-lighter."

Aula spun around to see a man standing in front of her. His face was hidden from view by a dark hooded cloak, but she could see two tiny points of red light coming from the shadow of his face, and she shuddered.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Aula demanded bravely, sounding much more courageous than she actually felt.

"Who I am isn't important," the demon replied in a deep voice. "As for what I want, that should be obvious. I want you." He waved a hand and Aula was thrown backwards. "Or rather," he continued mercilessly, "I want your power."

Aula scrambled to her feet. "What did you do with Samantha?" she cried hoarsely, fear gripping her heart.

"I finished her," the demon replied callously. He waved his hand again, but Aula orbed out in time to evade the telekinetic blast, than reappeared behind the demon.

"No. If she was dead, I would feel it," Aula insisted.

The demon hesitated to consider that. "Yes," he agreed finally. "You would." He waved his hand one more time, and Aula collapsed to the floor abruptly, hitting her head on the corner of the bed as she fell. The demon walked over to her and placed a hand on her head, and a glowing white-light left her forehead and traveled into the demon's palm. He stood and exhaled slowly, feeling the new power course through his veins.

A woman shimmered into the room. She was tall and stunning, with dark black hair and deep olive skin. Gold earrings dangled from her ears, and her neck was adorned with a thin gold chain. Her lips were painted crimson, and matched her dark red eyes.

The other demon turned to her and threw back his hood, revealing a head of thick black hair, olive skin, and green eyes. "Sarina," he said reverently, inclining his head to the newcomer.

Sarina gave him a cool smile and replied, "Jhorun. You have done well." She glanced down at the unconscious white-lighter. "Is the witch still alive?"

"Samantha? Yes, she lives," Jhorun replied. "The Council has taken her power from her and erased her memory."

"Good. Have her returned to the apartment. And erase the memory of the white-lighter as well. I do not want anyone to be able to trace this back to us," Sarina ordered. "We cannot risk showing ourselves until the proper time."

"Of course," Jhorun replied. He looked contemptuously at Aula. "I've taken her sensing abilities, but she has all her other ones."

"We have no need for orbing or healing," Sarina replied pointedly. "Leave them with her, she may need them later on."

Jhorun bowed and shimmered from the room. Sarina watched him leave, then walked to the window and looked out at the sky. "It's been a few decades since I've seen the sun," she mused. "And a few centuries since this exile was imposed on us all. But if half the rumors floating around the Underworld are true, the day of reckoning is soon to come, and the Source will pay for what he has done to the Khail."

"You should guard your thoughts more carefully."

Sarina did not turn around. There was no need to, she knew who was standing behind her. Still facing the window, she said icily, "What makes you think I _don't _want them read?"

"You want others to know of your betrayal?"

"You can hardly betray someone who is no longer a friend." Sarina turned and stared at the clocked demon in the center of the room. "So the great Source has come to grace me with his presence." Her mocking voice rang in the silent room, filling the air with her biting words. She could only hope the sound of her insults would cover the frantic beating of her heart.

"Fool! You would do well to fear me," the Source growled.

"Why should I fear the astral projection of a demon still caught in hell?" Sarina taunted. "Oh yes, I know the truth. You may have fooled others, Latere, Trell, the dark-lighters, but I know where you really are. You have not come back at all."

The Source roared and threw a fireball, but the fire passed harmlessly through Sarina. She laughed in his face and turned away again.

"You can't hurt anyone in this realm," Sarina said softly. "That's why you need the others, isn't it? Because you can't do it on your own?" She shook her head in disgust. "Where did you pick up your new powers? From the other demons in hell?"

The Source studied Sarina for a moment. "I could get a demon or dark-lighter to kill you," he said at last.

Sarina shrugged carelessly. "I don't doubt that. Even when you were in hell, there were many demons who worshipped you." Her voice became hard, taking on a steely edge. "We were a great clan before you exiled us. You took us from the pinnacle of power and sent us plummeting to despair and near extinction. But now…now it is our time to triumph."

"Do you even know what I am doing? Do you even know my plans?" the Source asked. When Sarina didn't answer, the Source continued, "Do you really think you have the power to stop me? Even in hell, I wield more control over the magical world than you could possibly dream of. I cast your clan from grace once, but I spared your lives. If you come up against me again, I won't even grant you that much mercy."

Sarina eyed him warily, then shook her head and replied, "It will be you who is begging for mercy this time, not us. Especially if we have the Charmed Ones on our side."

"What makes you think they would work with you?" the Source asked with a dark laugh.

"To stop you? I think there is very little they wouldn't do," Sarina replied silkily, and they both knew she spoke the truth. "I may not know your exact plans now, but I'll know them soon enough." She gestured to the unconscious white-lighter. "And I'm already starting counter plans of my own."

"Oh, and am I supposed to be afraid of a pacifist white-lighter's powers? Whatever your master plan is, it can't be too dangerous if all you've got to show for it is a few stolen powers." The Source shook his head. "Do you really think I consider you worth being concerned about?"

"Well, you obviously do," Sarina replied with a sardonic grin. "If you didn't consider me a serious threat, you wouldn't be here verbally sparing with me." And there was truth in those words as well.

But the Source would not admit defeat. "Don't get cocky," he threatened. "I brought you to your knees once, I'll do it again."

* * *

Next Chapter: Where in the World? 

Due: Friday 2/17


	29. Where in the World?

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's Note: This chapter is, as promised, longer and takes us back to Leo and Chris and the other Halliwells. Also, I've decided not to give the reason why the Khail were banned from the Underworld. I figured if I left it open, you could all come up with whatever reason you liked the most. Or you could not care about it enough to bother thinking up an answer. Either way, the exact reason why they were banished is not relevant to this story, just the fact that they _were _banished.

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Where in the World?

"What do you mean, you can't sense them?" Piper hissed, her face filled with fury. She was pacing the sunroom, having instructed Kyle to orb her to the last place her son and husband had been.

"They dropped off my radar," Kyle replied patiently. "One minute they were here, the next they were gone." He shrugged and began to search the room for any clues that might help.

"Well, try harder," Piper felt herself saying, not thinking the words through. She knew that Kyle was trying to find them, she knew it wasn't his fault, but two of the three most important men in the words to her were missing, and she was not going to stay calm. Not at a time like this.

"I'll scy for them," Paige offered, knowing by the look in Piper's eyes that the eldest Charmed One would not be talked out of her temper. "Maybe Prue can try to get a premonition?"

"Sure," Prue agreed instantly. She hesitated, then asked uncertainly, "What should I use? We don't know what they touched last."

"Try one of Chris' belongings. Something important to him," Phoebe directed her daughter. "I'll check the Book, see if there's something there."

Piper nodded slowly, watching as the family set to work. Mel, Pen, and Prue went to find a belonging of Chris', while Wyatt and Phoebe hunched over the book. Kyle continued trying to locate the two missing men. Normally the sight of all this activity would have given Piper hope, but she couldn't shake the feeling that wherever Chris and Leo were, they were far beyond her help.

* * *

Leo reacted instantly, pulling Chris away from the dinosaur and running frantically down the side of the rocks, scrambling to reach safety. The tail of the dinosaur lashed out, striking Leo in the chest and throwing him backwards, away from his younger son. He rolled helplessly down the hill, watching in horror as the dinosaur took one bound and landed just a few feet away from Chris. 

"Chris! NO!" Leo screamed, pushing his hands out and trying to stop his rapid descent. The rocks cut into his skin, drawing blood, and he winced in pain, but struggled to his feet.

Above, the dinosaur growled menacingly and lifted his huge from paw, preparing to strike the trapped witch-lighter. Chris did the only thing he could think of, and jumped backwards. The cliff gave way below him and he fell several feet through the air, landing in a heap below his father. The dinosaur's front claw landed where Chris had been standing moments before, the huge talons smashing into the rocks and shattering them into tiny fragments.

Leo turned and yanked Chris to his feet, and the two of them fled through the rocky terrain, finally reaching safety behind a pile of large stones, twenty feet high. Leo leaned against the rock, panting for breath, while Chris dropped to the ground in exhaustion.

"Do you think we lost him?" Chris asked quietly.

"Not for long," Leo murmured back. He sank down next to Chris and closed his eyes, trying to figure out how they were going to get out of this particular mess.

"So what exactly were we doing here the last time we came?" Chris asked at length. "And where exactly are we?"

Leo bit his lip and replied, "You were going through time portals to visit the future, to see if it had changed at all. And I didn't trust you yet…" he swallowed, feeling slightly guilty, but Chris just waved at him to go on. "I sort of pushed the two of us through a time portal into the past."

"This past?"

Leo looked around the rocky terrain. "Well, I doubt it was this exact day. Trell would not have sent us to the exact same time and place that the other version of us came to because it would have been too risky. We may have been able to find and warn our past selves…or I guess in your case it would be your present self…your present self from a different timeline that was in the past…you know what I mean…right?"

Chris laughed. "Yeah, I get it." He blinked. "Wait, is this like another point of connection? The demon sent me back in time on the exact same day that I went back in time in the other timeline?"

Leo bit his lip and frowned, thinking over the question. "Well, it is a bit more complicated in this instance. Obviously, it is a different time for me, but you yourself are the exact same age now as you would have been then…"

"Time and space theories make my head hurt," Chris muttered, touching his forehead gingerly and wishing he didn't have to try and understand all this.

"Yeah…" Leo agreed. He stood up and began to pace. "The thing about these points of connection is that they don't have to be exact. We don't have to travel to the same day as we did before, we just have to travel to the past on the same day… Is this making any sense to you?" he asked as he caught sight of Chris' bewildered expression.

"Sort of," Chris said honestly. "And sort of not."

Leo shrugged. "It doesn't really matter. What matters is getting out of here."

"How did we do it last time?"

Leo sighed in frustration, slamming his hand against the rock wall behind him. "We went through a time portal last time," he said in frustration. "The time portal was still open, so we used it to get back. It's different this time, because it was Trell who sent us."

"Who is Trell?" Chris asked.

Leo sat down again. "He's an upper level demon that used to work for the Source. About three hundred years ago, the Source charged him with leading an attack on a clan of witches in a small community in the northern part of Ethiopia. The Elders intervened and managed to stop him, but he almost wiped the entire clan out. After he failed in his attempt, he vowed revenge on the Elders for taking away his glory. He's been a thorn in our side ever since."

"He seemed to know you personally," Chris said quietly, wondering why his pacifist father would know an upper level demon.

"Trell's revenge was to kill the first charge of all new white-lighters. No one knows how he knew who had just become a white-lighter, or who their first charge was, but he systematically murdered several witches," Leo muttered. "And then I got my wings, and he tried to kill my very first charge, Jenny Lorse. She eventually figured out a way to bind some of Trell's powers. Not all of them, but enough that he would be less of a threat. She succeeded but…" his voice broke slightly, "but she died in the process."

"And Trell blames you for the loss of his powers?" Chris asked after a moment of hesitation. He knew he should say something commiserating to his father, but he couldn't think of anything to say.

"Yeah," Leo finished morosely. "Jenny left him with the ability to shimmer, and to create time portals like the one he sent us through. Not much use to him, but I bet he was pleased to have a chance to attack me."

"So basically since Trell opened a time portal and then closed it, we have no way back?" Chris questioned dejectedly, suddenly realizing the desperate situation they were in.

Leo nodded dumbly.

Chris opened his mouth to ask another question, but the air was suddenly filled with the sound of pounding footsteps, and the pile of stones behind which they were hiding burst into pieces as the dinosaur appeared. He smashed through the twenty foot stone wall as though it was nothing, his teeth flashing.

Leo and Chris ran. They clambered over rocks and gravel, raced up the side of a shallow cliff, crawled over a labyrinth of twisting stone, pausing only to catch their breath for a brief second before hurrying on. The growls of the dinosaur faded away behind them as they pressed onwards, moving back towards the way in which they had come.

"Why can't we orb?" Chris complained, chancing a glance back. The dinosaur was gone, but how long would that last?

"Prehistoric," Leo answered automatically. He grabbed Chris' arm and dragged the young witch-lighter towards a taller set of cliffs. "Magic won't be around until there's people to use it." He pointed upward. "There, can you climb to the top?"

Chris nodded reluctantly and started searching out handle holds in the rock. "So we just hand around for the next million years, no problem." He rolled his eyes sarcastically. "Just perfect." He pulled himself up, moving from ledge to ledge, trying to reach the top quickly.

From behind him, he heard Leo call up, "Actually, it's more like sixty-million. I think this is the cretaceous period, if that really was a Tyrannosaurus rex."

Chris paused and glanced down at his father. "Man, you are old," he joked.

Leo stared at his son for a moment, his face paling drastically, then looked away. "Just keep climbing, Chris," he said in a low voice.

But Chris didn't move. He stared at his father for a long time, his eyes narrowing. "What's the matter, Dad? That look you just gave me…" Chris let the sentence trail off and shrugged. "Well, you looked like you'd seen a ghost."

Leo swallowed the lump that formed in his throat and nodded slowly. "For a moment there, I did."

* * *

The woman shimmered into the attic so suddenly and silently that it took the Halliwell family several moments to react to her presence. Prue was the first to snap out of her daze, calling on her powers and holding a ball of fire in the palm of her hand. Wyatt waved his own hand, summoning Excalibur, and took a threatening step towards the intruder, his blue eyes narrowed in suspicion and distrust. Behind him, Kyle adroitly stepped in front of Mel and Pen, shielding them from the demon. 

"Who are you?" Piper asked, one hand still resting on the Book of Shadows. She needed to find her son and husband before something happened to them, and she did not have time for interruptions from demons.

"My name is Sarina," the woman replied, tucking a strand of hair behind one ear, her red eyes roaming over the occupants in the room. "And I have an offer to make you."

"We don't make deals with demons," Phoebe snapped.

Sarina offered the middle Charmed One and smirk. "You've done it before, witch. Or do I need to remind you of Tempus? And that Zotar you worked with to find Belthazor…Krell, I believe? And what about Zankou? "

Phoebe shifted from one foot to the other, annoyed at being proven wrong. But before she had a chance to answer back, Piper was speaking.

"What do you want?"

Sarina turned to Piper. "I know you are trying to stop the Source. I want to help." She walked over to the sofa and took a seat on the cushions, resting back against them carelessly, as though she had not just shimmered into the home of her enemies. "I can help you figure out what he is up to…"

"We already know what he is trying to do," Prue cut in, letting the fire disappear.

Sarina paused. If she was taken aback by that knowledge, she did not show it. But her eyes lingered on Prue for a moment, and a silence fell over the room. Finally, Sarina said, "Alright then. You know. I don't. But I'm still going to guess that you need help. Taking on the Source requires a lot of power."

"We've done it before," Paige pointed out.

Sarina nodded. "The feats of the Charmed Ones are legendary. But, correct me if I am wrong, your previous battle with the Source lasted four years and cost you," she turned to Phoebe, "your husband and your son," she glanced over at Piper, "and your sister." She shrugged slightly, looking almost bored with the conversation. "You may be able to defeat the Source again, but do you have four years to waste and another sister, husband, and child to sacrifice?"

"Who exactly are you?" Wyatt asked dangerously.

"I'm the High Priestess of the Khail."

Kyle stiffened. He knew only a little about the Khail, but they had long since been banned from the Underworld for crimes even worse that those the vampires committed. It would be suicide to trust this woman or her followers.

But Piper had a different opinion. "And you want to help us? You don't know what the Source is trying to do."

Sarina stood. She looked at Piper for a long time, then decided to lay her cards on the table. She had nothing to hide.

Well, almost nothing.

"I know the Source is in hell. I know he hasn't come back yet. I assume that he is trying to find a way into this world. But in all honestly, Piper Halliwell, I don't care if I am right or not. I don't care if you tell me what you know, or not. Whatever the Source wants to do, I want to stop him. And I will help you with that, if you will let me." She glanced around the room once more, then said, "If you decide to take me up on the offer, my entire clan will be on your side in the battle. All you have to do is call." And with that last statement, she shimmered away.

* * *

Jhorun shimmered back into Samantha's apartment with the unconscious witches body in his arms. He dumped her on her bed and ran a hand over her face. The pale skin glowed green for a moment, the red hair scattered as though blown about by the wind, then Sammy rolled over on the bed and drifted into dreamless sleep. 

Jhorun turned to Aula, who was still lying on the floor. He knelt down at her side and ran his hand over her face as well, green light emitting from his palm. Then he stood up and stepped back, pleased with his work.

Neither witch nor white-lighter would have any memory of what had happened.

Sarina shimmered into the room. Jhorun turned and inclined his head respectfully, murmuring a greeting. She gave him a curt nod, her eyes traveling over the two still bodies in the room.

"Where are the powers?" she asked quietly.

"Here," Jhorun answered, holding up a small amulet. "It has been enchanted by the Generals. Whoever where's it will be given the powers within." He extended the amulet to Sarina, and she took it, pocketing it within the folds of her dress.

"Good," Sarina murmured. It had taken them a long time to reach this point. The powers they needed were rare, hard to find, and the Khail had hunted for years before fining the proper witches. And it had taken centuries to be able to rebuild their ranks, regain their strength, for the upcoming battles.

"All is done?" Jhorun asked.

Sarina gave him a chilling smile. "I've contacted the witches. The eldest seemed inclined to help me."

'The time is almost here," Jhorun smirked, rubbing his hands in anticipation.

"Yes," Sarina concurred. "Yes, it is."

* * *

"They are a threat," the Source hissed. He paused in his pacing long enough to glance over at the Seer. "The Khail are too dangerous, we cannot let them join the fight." 

The Seer nodded, her dark eyes staring off into the distance as she contemplated the options. "Piper seemed the most willing to take the Khail's services," she mused. "But neither white-lighter nor Elder would be thrilled with the option."

The Source nodded. "True. If we can separate the eldest Charmed One from the others, perhaps they will reject Sarina's offer."

"Even if the Charmed Ones reject it, the Khail are still a threat to us," the Seer objected. "They are too powerful for us to simply ignore. And they have grown in power over the past few centuries." The Seer glanced at her pool, but for once it showed her nothing.

"Why is it still black?" the Source demanded, pointing at the dark water in the stone basin. "Where are the images?"

The Seer shook her head. "There is nothing to see," she murmured. Slanting a look at the Source, she elaborated, "The world is changing. Fate is coming faster, stronger. The pool can't show me what is happening because there is too much chaos for it to shift through. And too much order for it to understand."

The Source nodded, not understanding the words. The workings of a Seer's pool were far beyond the comprehension of anyone, good or evil. He had spent centuries trying to grasp the ideas behind the ability to see the past, present, and future in a simple bowl of water, and trying to understand how anyone could have the gift to call those images up at will. The answers had eluded him, and the Seer's pool was still revered throughout the Underworld as magic in its strongest form.

But the Source did understand one thing.

If fate was growing in strength, then the end of everything was drawing near.

* * *

Next Chapter: So Far From Home 

Due: Thursday 2/23


	30. So Far From Home

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's Note: Some people have asked about Bianca and Jason, so I figured I should say this now. Yes, they are both still in the story, and yes, they will both make appearances in later chapters. But no, they are not going to be a big factor in the next several chapters.

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Nine: So Far From Home 

"Nothing," Paige snapped, throwing the scrying crystal onto the table in frustration. "Absolutely nothing." She glanced over at Wyatt, who was sifting through the pages of the Book, looking for anything that might help. "What about you, Wy?"

"Not yet," Wyatt said grimly, "but I'm not giving up."

Piper was pacing the floor near the window, staring at nothing in particular as her thoughts ran in a whirl. She licked her dry lips and forced away the panic, trying her best to think clearly, and failing miserably at it.

Mel and Pen sat on the sofa, each feeling helpless to do anything. Phoebe stood behind them, holding Leo's shirt tightly in her hands, and trying to call up a premonition. It was a fruitless task, she knew, because she still didn't have her powers, but she had to do something. She couldn't just sit around while her family was in danger. Next to her, Prue was trying to conjure a premonition from Chris' shirt. She had little experience calling premonitions at will, but like her mother, she couldn't do nothing.

"Why isn't Kyle back yet?" Piper said abruptly, glancing at the ceiling. "He went to check with the Elders hours ago!"

"Actually, it was about fifteen minutes ago," Wyatt murmured under his breath. Piper shot him a glare, which he ignored. He was just as worried as his mother, but he had a much better handle on his temper.

"Where do you think they are?" Pen voiced the question that had been plaguing everyone's thoughts. As all eyes turned to her, she bit her lip and continued, "I mean, even if they were in the Underworld, shouldn't Wyatt at least be able to sense Chris a little? Even if he didn't know where he was?"

"Brother's bond," Piper murmured. The link between siblings was the way she had always been able to tell when her sisters were in danger, and it was more often then not the gut instinct that had woken her in the night and sent her sprinting into a sister's bedroom to vanquish some demon or warlock that had attacked. If Wyatt couldn't find Chris anywhere, could that mean…?

Paige saw the color leave Piper's face and interpreted it correctly. Reacting quickly, she reached out and placed a hand on Piper's shoulder. "They aren't dead. We would be able to feel it if they were dead."

Piper swallowed and nodded, hoping that was true.

Wyatt glanced between his mother and aunt, then looked back at the Book, his expression drawn and frazzled. He rubbed weary eyes and read the open page, shaking his head slowly as he realized that the entry on fairies would not actually help him.

_Turn the page._

"Here's a spell," Wyatt said abruptly, stopping at a page on the Book. "To Call a Lost Witch From Out of Time," he read slowly. "It looks like it is a combination between a summoning spell and a locater spell." He turned to his mother, and continued, "It says it requires a lot of power, but with all of us here…"

Piper walked over to the Book and stared at the entry. She read the words carefully, a little concerned. "It says if we don't have enough power, we can lose control of the spell," she remarked. "I don't want wild magic floating around the house."

"We've got enough power," Paige replied.

Piper turned and looked over at her youngest sister, still doubtful.

_You have more than enough power, even without the Power of Three._

Piper shrugged. "You're probably right," she agreed at last. "Well, we need candles and a potion for the spell to work. Paige, can you start on the potion, it doesn't look like it is that complicated. Pen, can you get out the candles and make a circle?"

* * *

Chris ran a hand through his hair and crouched down next to his father. "What was my other self like?" he asked quietly as his eyes scanned the area. Leo turned to look at him in surprise, and Chris continued quickly, "I mean, what did _you_ think of him?"

"He was my son," Leo replied quietly. "I loved him."

"Before you found out he…I…whatever…was your son. What did you think then?" Chris asked. He had vivid memories of being thrown into a bookshelf by his father, but he also knew that there must be memories that he didn't have, like this one of going back in time. Where there ever points where they got along?

Leo frowned. "I…we…well…" He had no idea what to say, how to answer. Somehow, admitting that he had hated the witch-lighter from the future and was suspicious of every single thing he did just didn't seem like a good idea. Finally, he said, "He was persistent. Dedicated. I've never met anyone that determined to finish a task."

Chris nodded. "You hated me, huh?" he said at last.

Leo winced. "We…didn't get along at the beginning," he replied. "You sort of…banished me to imprisonment in an isle full of warrior women, and I…didn't really forgive you for that…" He sighed and closed his eyes. "Until you risked your life and got shot by a dark-lighter trying to save the sisters and Wyatt from a demonic world fueled by desires, that is."

Chris frowned, remembering his run in with Gith. "Yeah, I kind of sent them to that world to start with," he said hesitantly. Leo looked at him sharply and he shrugged. "Hey, my brother was the evil overlord of the world, I was desperate!"

Leo cracked a small smile. "Well, you saved Wyatt in the end, right?"

"And died in the process," Chris muttered. He shook his head, trying to sort through his memories. "I banished you to an island of warriors?" he asked at last, latching on to that detail of Leo's previous statement.

Leo nodded absently, then looked up at Chris in confusion. "Don't you remember that? Sending me to Valhalla?"

Chris closed his eyes, trying to think. Finally, he shook his head. "Valhalla? No…I mean, I remember a lot of other, uh, _not incredibly intelligent_ things I did…getting Wyatt kidnapped by the Order, attacking you and Mom when I was infected by the spider demon, wishing for you and Mom to sleep together when Phoebe was a genie, but not Valhalla." He rubbed his eyes and leaned back against the rocks. The sun was scorching now, and he found himself wishing for a nice glass of water and an air conditioner.

Leo shook his head in wonder. "That was basically why I didn't trust him. I can't believe you don't remember that."

Chris stood up and looked around. "Okay, well, we've been hiding here for a while, and the dinosaur hasn't come back. Maybe it's gone."

"Maybe," Leo agreed reluctantly. "But I don't know if we should risk it."

"So what? We just stay here and wait to get eaten?" Chris snapped. "Somehow, I don't like that plan."

"Well, we don't really have a choice," Leo replied quietly. "We have no way out of here. No magic at our disposal." He stood next to his son and blocked his eyes from the bright sun with one hand. Taking in the barren landscape, he licked his dry lips and continued, "We just have to stay alive long enough for the sisters to figure out how to get us back."

"How do we know they will?" Chris asked skeptically.

Leo slanted him a look and replied staunchly, "Have you ever known your mother to fail?"

An image of Piper's broken and bloodied body flashed through Chris' mind, but he pushed it away. That was a different timeline, and this one his mother was still alive. And strong. "I guess," he sighed. "I still don't like waiting."

"I know," Leo commiserated. "I don't either. But like I said, we don't really have a choice." A silence fell over the two of them, then Leo asked, "You wished for Piper and I to sleep together? Phoebe told us it was Arabian sleeping potion."

Chris had the grace to blush. "I didn't want to cease to exist," he explained.

"So you wished for us to…uh…you know…"

"No. Oh, God no! I mean, that _was_ what I wanted, but I didn't actually say the words. Not to _Aunt_ _Phoebe_. I just wished for you and Mom to sleep together, and Aunt Phoebe tricked me so that you were sleeping and not…you know…"

Leo accepted the statement, then said, "Was that why Paige kept trying to get us to drink champagne and eat oysters at Wyatt's birthday?"

"Yeah," Chris nodded, "because they are aphrodisiacs, and I wasn't conceived yet, and I was running out of time, so you and Mom had to…" Chris stopped abruptly and wrinkled his nose in disgust at what he was thinking while Leo flushed scarlet. "You know what, can we _not_ have this conversation?"

Leo laughed. "Gladly."

* * *

"Okay, Phoebe can you light the candles?" Piper asked, and watched as her younger sister reached for the matches. Paige entered the attic with the potion in a small bottle, and set it on the potions' table near the Book's podium.

"Okay, so according to the Book, we say the spell, throw the potion into the center of the candles, and that should create a portal that will pull Chris and Dad through it," Wyatt read the entry. "But we need something of Dad's and something of Chris'."

"We've got shirts and stuff," Pen said. "Do you want me to go get one?"

"It needs to be something a little more special than a shirt," Wyatt replied.

"What about that?" Mel said, pointing across the attic. All eyes turned to see what she was looking on, and fell across a small picture framed and hanging from the far wall. It showed Piper and Leo on their wedding day, smiling out at the picture. In the background, the house was partially destroyed, with the large cake splattered across the floor and the flowers knocked over. Leo had often said the picture was one of his favorites because it reminded him that even Prue's wild subconscious and a mistaken murder charge could not keep him from marrying the woman of his dreams.

Piper walked over to the picture and lifted it from the wall, then carried it back. She placed it carefully in the center of the candles.

"What about for Chris?" Paige asked. "Another picture?"

Piper stared at her wedding picture, a pensive look in her eyes. "Actually, I have something else I think might work better." She turned and left the attic without an explanation.

A beeping suddenly filled the room, and Prue glanced down at her jacket pocket. She reached inside and pulled out her cell phone, checked the ID and smiled, recognizing her boyfriend's number. Opening the phone, she said brightly, "Hey Justin."

"Hey Prue," came Justin's reply. "How are you doing? Everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine," Prue replied. She thought over his words for a moment, then asked slowly, "Did I miss another date?"

"No," Justin laughed. "I just wanted to check in after our last conversation, you had seemed so worried then."

"Things are still…complicated."

"Yeah, they always are with you," Justin answered. "Anything I can do?"

"You're so sweet, but I don't think so," Prue said, smiling to herself. She glanced at her mother. "I'll be back in a minute," she mouthed, then exited the attic, walking past Piper as she did so.

Piper walked into the attic, her fist clenched around something small.

"What did you get?" Wyatt asked in interest.

Piper sighed and said, "After the other Chris died, I found this among his belongings at P3. I didn't get rid of it, I couldn't. I don't know why, I don't even like Bianca, but I just…" She held out her hand and opened it, displaying a single silver band with a tiny diamond in the center.

An engagement ring.

Paige lifted it from her hand and stared at the ring for a moment, then nodded. She placed it on top of the photo's in the center of the candles and turned to Piper. "Let's do this."

"Should we wait for Prue?" Pen asked, glancing at the attic door.

_Why bother? You can do this without her._

"No, let's do it now," Piper replied. "I want my family back."

Wyatt nodded and handed out copies of the spell that he had written on notebook paper. Pen and Mel took theirs, and Mel collapsed on the sofa, while Pen took a seat across from her on a wicker back chair. Piper and Paige walked over to the Book, and Phoebe leaned against the potions table. Wyatt glanced at the door to the attic, then walked over and shut it quickly. He leaned against it, and the family began to chant the spell.

"We call upon the greatest power…"

Phoebe reached for the potion bottle, holding it tightly in one hand.

"…to guide us through time and space…"

A wind blew in through the open window, causing the candles to flicker. Piper frowned in concerned and walked over to the candles, bending down next to them and cupping her hands around one of the flames to keep it from going out. Pen, meanwhile, walked over to the window and shut it.

"…bring Chris and Leo back…"

Unbeknownst to anyone in the room, with Paige standing near the Book, Mel hunched over on the sofa, Wyatt standing near the door, Phoebe leaning against the potions' table on the opposite side of the room, and Pen standing by the windows, they formed a pentagon. And as Piper knelt by the candles, she placed herself directly in the center of the pentagon.

"To this particular place."

Phoebe threw the potion onto the objects in the center of the candles, and a great explosion filled the attic, followed by a flash of bright blue light and the swirling of colored gusts of wind. The whirlpool of air slowed, and two figures crashed out of it, smashing into the floor and knocking the candles away. The flames died as the candles went rolling across the floor.

Wyatt flung himself forward, hugging his father and Chris tightly. A moment later, Pen and Mel followed, piling on top of the three figures on the floor. Phoebe grinned to herself, pleased to see her brother-in-law and nephew back safely.

"I'm going to get Prue!" Pen announced, detaching herself from the others. Phoebe instantly took her place, hugging Chris tightly and exchanging relieved smiles with Leo.

Only Paige seemed to realize something was wrong. "Uh, guys?" she said, drawing everyone's attention as she looked around the attic in barely concealed panic and confusion. "See anything missing?"

All eyes spun around the room. Pen had paused by the door and looked back at her mother. Leo, Wyatt, Mel, and Phoebe detangled from each other and frowned at Paige. Chris was still to preoccupied by being back safely in the attic to really hear Paige's question, but he noted the silence and looked around in confusion. They knew that Prue was downstairs, and Kyle was still with the Elders, so they were both accounted for.

It was Wyatt who realized it first, and asked the question, his face paling dramatically as he did so.

"Where's Mom?"

Piper was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

Next Chapter: What Might Have Been 

Due: Monday 2/27


	31. What Might Have Been

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: Yes, I know, I'm evil for the cliffhanger in the last chapter. But now you get to find out where Piper and went. This chapter is entirely Piper, and doesn't include any of the others (at least, the others from the normal timeline), so you will have to wait until the next chapter to get your questions about the voice and all that answered.

* * *

Chapter Thirty: What Might Have Been

Piper blinked as she looked around the empty attic. One moment she was standing surrounded by her family as they read the spell aloud, the next minute everyone else was gone and she was standing alone in the room.

But it was not the attic Piper had just been in moments before.

The Book was not on the podium. No magic supplies, potions bottles, or weapons were anywhere to be seen. Instead, the room was set up like another bedroom, with a bed pushed against the far wall and a desk and dresser next to the window.

Piper walked to the window. Through the glass, she could see

"Aunt Piper?"

Piper turned to see a girl entering the room. She appeared to be about sixteen or seventeen. She was tall, with black shoulder length hair and bright chocolate eyes. She was dressed in a tiny miniskirt, a pink silk tank top, and knee high boots. Her hands were resting on her hips and a look of annoyance graced her features.

"What are you doing in my room?" the girl continued.

"Uh…" Piper blinked, not sure what to say. Who was this girl?

"Are you seriously looking through my stuff?" the mystery girl continued. "I _told_ you that I wasn't hiding anything, why _do_ you have to be like this?" Her voice had a distinctly whinny tone to it.

The sound of footsteps on the stairs caused Piper to turn around and look at the door. A moment later, there was a knock, and the mystery girl call out, "Come in," before turning to Piper and saying with a pointed scowl, "See, at least _someone_ knocks."

Kyle stepped into the room. Piper's face lit up as she saw him, relieved that there was someone here who might be able to explain what is going on.

"Kyle, thank God!" Piper breathed. "Are Phoebe and Paige here also? I need to talk to them?"

Kyle stared at Piper for a moment, then looked over at the younger girl. The teenager shrugged and flopped down on the bed in a decidedly frustrated manner, crossed her arms over her chest, and glared at the two adults.

"Kyle?" Piper asked, confused when the white-lighter did not answer her.

"She's just being so annoying!" the mystery girl complained. "She's searching my room, and I don't see why! She doesn't trust me, and all I did was kiss Jimmy. I'm a teenager, I'm allowed to do that, and it wasn't even like we were doing anything serious. I mean, jeez, she didn't walk in on us…you know…doing…well…" the girl suddenly flushed bright red. "S-E-X" she mouthed the letters to Kyle.

"It looked pretty serious to me," Piper snapped at the younger girl. "And if you would ever just be honest with me, I wouldn't have to search your room. But after the whole shop-lifting episode…" The eldest Charmed One stopped abruptly, unsure where the words had come from.

"God, how many times do I have to tell you, I just _forgot_ to pay!"

Piper rubbed her head. "I really need to talk to my sisters," she muttered.

Kyle and the girl looked at her sharply, and then the girl said, "See! You break rules all the time to, but when you do it we could all get killed!" She turned to Kyle. "It isn't fair, Kyle. How come she can talk about magic and everything so openly without repercussions and I get grounded when I make out with someone?"

"Because she's your legal guardian, Penny, and she makes all the rules," Kyle replied tiredly, as though he had heard this argument many times before. He turned to Piper and continued, "But she's right, Piper. It would be better not to talk so openly about everything."

Penny smirked, but Piper just looked confused.

"What?" she asked.

"Mom would never have been like this with me," Penny complained. "But all you ever say is _why can't I be like darling, precious, perfect, walk-on-water, can-do-no-harm Melinda_?"

"Who?" Piper asked before she could stop herself. That earned her two more surprised stares from the other occupants of the room.

"Penny, could you give us a moment please?" Kyle asked gently, but in a tone that brooked no arguments. Penny gave Piper one last confused glance, before acquiescing to the request and leaving the room.

"Kyle, what is going on? Who is she and why is she here?" Piper demanded, pointing towards the door that Penny had walked through. "Where are Paige and Phoebe? What happened?"

Kyle stared at her for a moment, then waved his hand and a circle of crystals suddenly appeared around Piper, trapping her within. Kyle took a step back, crossing his arms and staring at Piper suspiciously, a suspicious and questioning look in his eyes.

"Kyle?" Piper asked, taking a step forward and hissing in pain and frustration as the energy of the crystal cage shocked her. "What are you doing?"

"You feel like Piper," Kyle mused, more to himself than to the bewildered Charmed One. "If it wasn't for that, I'd be so sure that you were a demon or warlock of some type…"

"What?" Piper screeched. "What _are_ you talking about?"

There was a silence while Kyle contemplated the woman standing in front of him, wondering just what exactly was going on. "Maybe you're under a spell of some sort," Kyle suggested at last. He turned and glanced at the door to the attic. "I should check with the Elders." Looking over his shoulder to Piper, he warned, "I'm going to get someone to keep an eye on you. Don't try anything, alright?"

"Kyle, I don't know what you are talking about, but we need to get back to stopping the Source from bringing about the end of the universe. We do not have time for this!"

Kyle paused in his tracks, his eyes widening slightly. "The Source?" he breathed. "The Source is trying to end the world?"

Piper opened her mouth to respond, then stopped, frowning. Whatever was going on, she was now starting to realize that this was not the Kyle she knew. After a moment of silence, she said, "I think I'm from a different timeline than this one."

"Yeah," Kyle agreed. "I'm thinking that too." He walked over to the sofa and took a seat. "But you'll forgive me I still don't trust you enough to let you out of the cage."

"Yeah, whatever," Piper replied, waving the comment aside as she sat down on the attic floor. "Tell me about this timeline. Phoebe, Paige, Leo, Chris, Wyatt? Do they exist?"

Kyle shook his head. "I don't recognize those names," he said quietly. "At least, not most of them." He looked away. "This is going to be hard for you to hear…"

"Tell me," Piper ordered.

Kyle sighed. "Phoebe was burned at the stake over a decade ago."

Piper gasped, realization dawning on her features. "Nathaniel Pratt?" she breathed.

It was Kyle's turn to blink in surprise. "You know him? How?"

"When Phoebe and Prue and I first got our powers, we ended up casting a spell to come to this future. It was after a vision Phoebe had of being burned at the stake." She shook her head and sighed. "We eventually got back to the past, and things changed." She frowned, a thought suddenly occurring to her. "Didn't Leo or I ever tell you this?"

"I never met Leo," Kyle explained. "I was assigned to be your white-lighter after he was killed." Then realizing how insensitively he had broken the news to her, he grimaced and said, "Sorry, I shouldn't have said it like that."

Piper swallowed and blinked back the tears. "How…?"

"I'm guessing you don't know much about the history of this timeline?" Kyle asked.

"No, we left it right before Phoebe was killed," Piper replied.

Kyle nodded. "Alright, get comfortable, this is going to take a while." He drew a breath and began the narration. "Nathaniel Pratt had your sister executed, and shortly after he became the governor of California. Most witches went into hiding, but the demons were having a field day, now realizing that they could use magic in public without consequences. We don't know what happened to the Cleaners, why they never showed up, but they didn't. Eventually, Pratt figured out that he couldn't stop all the demons by himself, and he ordered a military lockdown of the entire state. Curfews were instituted, and people had to carry identification papers with them at all times."

"What about us? Didn't we try to do something?" Piper asked.

"What could you do?" Kyle replied pointedly. "Without Phoebe, the Power of Three was broken. Besides, you couldn't use your powers in public without risking exposure."

"But what about Paige?" Piper asked, not understanding why the youngest Charmed One would not have appeared after Phoebe's death.

"Paige?" Kyle asked, confused. "You mean Paige Matthews?" Piper nodded wordlessly, and he frowned, running a hand through his hair. "What about her, Piper? She's dead."

"How…?" Piper breathed again.

Kyle blinked. "I thought you knew this part…?" When Piper did not reply, he shrugged and said. "Alright, I'll back track a bit. Phoebe and Paige met three years after you received your powers. Paige was a social worker. Anyway, the two became incredibly good friends. It was almost as though Paige was the little sister Phoebe never had. And then the whole thing with Cal Greene…" Kyle sighed and shook his head. "They found Paige's body near an arboretum in southern San Francisco. There were eyewitness accounts that stated Paige and Cal had been seen together only moments before she was killed." He closed his eyes, remembering everything he had heard, everything he had witnessed. "I had been a white-lighter for several years, although I had yet to meet any of the illustrious Charmed Ones. I watched though, and I saw everything that happened. The Elders always paid special attention to Paige, I'm not sure why, but they ended up witnessing the entire thing. We saw what…" Kyle's breath caught in his throat. "We saw what Cal did to Paige before he killed her." He drew a slow breath and continued, "Anyway, all the evidence pointed to Cal, and he would have been convicted, but he ended up getting off on a technicality. Phoebe went insane with rage. Killed him, got caught, and Pratt burned her."

Piper took all this in quietly, thinking. "You said Paige was like the younger sister Phoebe never had?" she asked at last.

"Yeah, they were close," Kyle replied. He tilted his head to one side. "How do you know Paige?"

"Kyle, Paige _is_ my little sister," Piper replied. "Mom and her white-lighter had an affair, Paige was the result of that." She paused, seeing the surprise in Kyle's eyes, then decided to drop the bombshell. "And, in my timeline, she's also your _wife_."

Kyle opened and shut his mouth several times, unable to form a coherent sentence. At last he just gasped out, "Wh-what?"

"You finish your story, and I'll start mine," Piper replied, shifting in her crystal cage.

Kyle nodded dumbly, unable to believe what he had heard, then picked up the story again. "So after Phoebe was executed, Pratt gave you and Prue a very careful review, but decided you weren't witches. But neither of you wanted to remain in the city, so you moved to New Mexico, although you didn't sell the Manor. Prue sold Bucklands, however, and you left Melinda with Leo, since she was much safer with him. Prue eventually married a man named Alex Baker, and they had a daughter, Penny, who you met just a minute ago."

Kyle got up and walked over to the window, staring out at the sky. It was hard for him to recount these stories. Even though he had not witnessed any of the events, he knew they would be painful for Piper to hear, and he did not like causing his charge pain. "But after you left, things in San Francisco just got worse. Once Penny was born, Alex discovered that you and Prue were witches. He was furious, because Prue had never told him that, even when they got married. He and Prue got divorced, but he didn't turn you in because he loved Penny too much to let anything happen to his daughter. Still, he walked out on you, and none of us have seen him since."

"Jerk," Piper muttered.

Kyle gave a short laugh, abrupt and ironic. "Pratt was killed a few years after Phoebe, but not before he had wiped out almost every good witch in the city. The Elders convinced you and Prue to come back to the city, and you two tried your level best to keep the demons at bay. It was difficult without the Power of Three, but you managed to do a pretty fair job of it. Until…"

"Until what?" Piper pressed.

"Two years ago, Prue was killed by a personal assassin of the Source. Shax. Leo managed to save you, but he lost his life in the process. You, Penny, and Melinda barely escaped death and you went crazy. You launched a bitter attack on the Source, single handedly destroyed nearly a quarter of his army. He got worried and you two eventually made a pact. He doesn't come after you and you don't go after him. It is a unstable truce, and God only knows how long it will last, but it is also the only reason the three of you are still alive."

"And where do you figure in?" Piper asked, trying to get her head around everything that she had learned.

"I was made your white-lighter after Leo died," Kyle replied. He turned back to Piper. "There, I've told you my story. Now you tell me yours."

* * *

"So…I have twins," Kyle muttered as Piper finished her brief explanation of everything that had happened to her family over the past several days. "And I'm married. To Paige. Who is alive. And I have…twins." Kyle had long since removed the crystal barrier, and the two of them were perched on the couch, talking about the life Piper had come from. 

Piper nodded sympathetically, realizing how difficult this must be for the white-lighter. "Two absolutely beautiful daughters," she said, smiling.

"Tell me about them?" Kyle requested.

"They both look a lot like their mother, although Mel takes after you personality wise. She's the intuitive one of the entire group of cousins. Sometimes I forget she's only thirteen." Piper smiled fondly at the memory of her young niece and continued, "Pen is much more outgoing. She's popular in school and all that, and she's the top of her class in almost everything. Magic-wise, she isn't as powerful as Mel, or at least, she doesn't have as much control over her powers, but she is still one of the next generation of Charmed Ones."

"Next generation?"

"Your twins, and Phoebe's daughter Prue," Piper explained. "Pen has molecular combustion, Mel has telekinesis, and Prue has premonitions."

"The three gifts of the Charmed Ones," Kyle murmured.

"Yeah. Prue also has the power to control the elements, although she mostly just uses fire and wind. Mel and Pen are part white-lighter, so the Elders's aren't sure if they are going to develop anymore offensive powers, or just pacifist ones. Healing and sensing and the like."

Kyle ran a hand through his hair, then said, "So…you've got two boys in that timeline?"

"Wyatt and Chris," Piper replied. "Wyatt is the Twice Blessed Child." Kyle raised his eyes in disbelief and she continued, "Yeah, we get a lot of prophesized children in this family." She smiled as she remembered Chris, but the smile was tinged with sadness. "Then there's Chris. He was currently missing when we cast the spell that sent me here. I hope it brought him back."

"Is he Twice Blessed also?" Kyle wondered.

"Well, he wasn't prophesized. Actually, he wasn't even planned. But he is absolutely amazing. He risked everything to go back in time and save Wyatt from turning evil, almost wrote himself out of existence in the process. Anything to save his family." Piper's face shown with pride as she spoke, but behind the cheerful expression, a tiny bit of pain reminded her that he had more than risked his life for Wyatt, he had sacrificed it.

Shaking her head to clear the thoughts, Piper turned her attention to everything she had learned about this timeline. Prue had been killed on a different day, but still by Shax. Kyle had been killed by different people, but still on the same day. Wyatt and Melinda were two different people with the same birthday and same parents. She and Leo had been in love, even if they hadn't been together. Paige had been a important part of the family, even if they didn't know she was their sister. They had even met her at the same time in this timeline as in the other one.

Parallels.

It was the first time she truly understood and appreciated what Leo had said about the links of fate.

* * *

Next Chapter: Strangers With Familiar Faces 

Due: Friday 3/3


	32. Strangers with Familiar Faces

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: Sorry about the lack of reply to reviews, this week got suddenly very busy. I will be able to reply to any reviews of the next chapter, though.  
Courtney Williams is Wyatt's girlfriend. I've mentioned her once or twice, but I figured most people wouldn't remember that so I just thought a reminder would be good. They've been dating for about a year, although that isn't so important. This chapter takes place directly where the last one ended, with Piper and Kyle talking.

* * *

Chapter Thirty-One: Strangers With Familiar Faces

Orbs filled the air of the attic suddenly, and a girl appeared. A girl with a face so familiar Piper did a double take and then had to mentally remind herself that this girl was in fact her daughter, and not some figment of imagination brought to life by the Source.

"Melinda," Piper greeted slowly.

"Hey, Mom," Melinda replied with a grin. She cocked her head to one side. "What, no lecture about how orbing will get us all burned at the stake?"

Kyle answered the question quickly before Piper had a chance to respond. "That's not your mother, Melinda," he said gravely. Melinda turned to him sharply, unsure of what he meant, and the weary white-lighter explained, "At least, that's not this timeline's version of your mother."

Melinda raised one eyebrow and nodded doubtfully. It was a sign of just how screwed up the lives of the Halliwells were in all the timelines that instead of panicking or getting flustered, Melinda just asked calmly,"Okay, someone going to fill me in on what happened?"

"A spell gone wrong," Piper replied grimly, shaking her head in frustration. She stared at Melinda, at her pale skin and dark hair, at her easy smile and laughing eyes, and wondered how this girl could ever be the mysterious phantom she had met in the other timeline.

"Why are you looking at me funny?" Melinda asked, switching her gaze to Piper. "Am I different from your Melinda?"

Kyle frowned at Piper and gave an imperceptible shake of his head, and she understood the message. "The less people who know about my timeline, the better," Piper replied. "No point dwelling on what things might have been like."

"But…" Melinda protested, but Piper cut her off.

"Hey, I might not be the mother you grew up with, but I am technically still your mother, and what I say goes."

Melinda pouted and Kyle chuckled. "You really are a lot like Mom," Melinda groaned, flopping on to the sofa. Then she paused, worry appearing in her eyes. "If you are here, where is my Mom? Is she in your timeline?"

Piper glanced over at Kyle. He shrugged and replied, "I doubt it. That particular spell would not have made the two of you switch places. Most likely, you just inhabited her body, and once we get you back to your timeline, she'll have control of her self again."

Piper frowned, a little unnerved that she was suppressing someone else's conscious. Except that it wasn't someone else's, it was hers, but just a different version of her. But a different enough version that it really was a separate person… She blinked and sighed, confused by the many different repercussions of what had happened.

"So, how do we get me back to where I need to go and your Piper back here?" Piper asked Kyle.

He shrugged again. "Unfortunately, I'm not sure about that. I'm going to check with the Elders." He turned to the young witch-lighter. "Melinda, make sure that Piper doesn't accidentally do something stupid, this isn't her timeline and she doesn't know much about the witch hunts." And then he orbed away.

"You don't have witch hunts in your timeline?" Melinda asked with interest. "Oh, I wish I could see what it was like. It must be so great not to have to worry about exposure all the time." She smiled brightly and switched subjects. "Have you met Penny?"

"Yes," Piper said slowly. "I met her when I first got here. She doesn't know who I am, or rather, who I'm not."

"Oh, well we should tell her," Melinda decided. "Although she isn't currently speaking to any of us." She shook her head and sighed. "Come on, let's go downstairs. Courtney is coming over in a little bit. You'd love her, she's great. She and I were on the track team in high school, and then she went to UCLA for undergraduate and Stanford for law school. She's in her third year now, and she wants to go into human rights law." Melinda stopped suddenly and turned to Piper. "Oh, but maybe you know Courtney? Is she my best friend in your timeline also?"

"Courtney Williams?" Piper asked slowly. "Blonde hair, blue eyes, twelve feet tall?"

Melinda grinned. "That's the one. So I am friends with her? Good to know." She smiled again and walked out of the attic.

Piper frowned, watching Melinda go. Melinda was a chatterbox, bubbly and full of laughter. So much more so than any of the Halliwells in the other timeline. Penny was a typical teenager, going through the rebellious phase, a phase that Prue, Chris, and Wyatt had never gone through, and Mel and Pen probably wouldn't either. Kyle seemed so much more exhausted here than his alternate self was, so run down and tired of this life. And the lawyer Courtney Williams that was best friends with Melinda sounded so different from the bohemian, gipsy-like Courtney Williams who was dating Wyatt.

As Piper followed the girl that could have been her daughter down the stairs from the attic, it occurred to her that while she was surrounded by family and friends, she was still amidst strangers.

* * *

"What do you mean, she was right here?" Leo demanded in growing concern as he looked around the attic, hoping to find some clue about his missing wife. "She isn't here now!"

"Yeah, we noticed that one, Leo," Paige replied in annoyance, folding her arms across her chest.

"How could you let this happen?" Leo asked harshly, panic filling his chest.

"We didn't let it happen," Phoebe hissed, hands on her hips. "It isn't like we knew this would be a side effect."

Orbs appeared in the room suddenly, and a disgruntled Kyle looked around in confusion. "What happened?" he asked. "Why did Piper drop off my radar?"

"Aunt Piper's not here?" All eyes turned to Prue, who was standing in the doorway, staring at the rest of her family in concern and confusion. Her eyes landed on Chris and Leo, and her face lit up as she hurried to embrace her cousin. Chris returned the hug, but his eyes were shadowed with fear as he looked over his cousin's head at Kyle.

"Mom disappeared at the same time we came back," Chris muttered. "We don't know where she is."

"How did you get us back?" Leo asked, turning to Paige. Paige threw him one last angry glare before walking over to the Book and pointing to the entry. "This one here," she replied. 'The spell to Call a Lost Witch From Out of Time."

Kyle and Leo paled dramatically. "What?" Kyle asked, striding forward. "You never do that spell without the Power of Three! Ever!" He pointed to the entry and asked, "Didn't you read the part about losing control of the spell?"

"We had the entire Halliwell family here," Phoebe protested. "That should have been more than enough."

"Not without the Power of Three," Leo said heavily. "There are some spells that require that power, and if you don't have it, they won't work, no matter what." He glanced over at Kyle. "The spell must have sent Piper somewhere out of this timeline in order to call us back."

Kyle nodded and rubbed his eyes. "So how do we get her back?" he asked his brother-in-law.

Leo was silent for a moment, thinking. "The only spells I know of that can call a witch from another timeline are Power of Three spells, which we don't even have a chance of using without Piper. Although even with her, the sisters don't have their powers, so…"

"Why did you use a Power of Three spell?" Prue asked suddenly. "And why didn't you wait for me to say the spell with you? I told you I was going to be right back."

Phoebe glanced at her daughter. "It just seemed…okay. Like it was the right thing to do…" She let the sentence drift off as she suddenly realized the truth. "The Source…astral projection…he played us," she whispered.

Paige groaned and leaned forward on the Book's podium, resting her head in her hands.

"Well, can we orb in between planes?" Mel asked, turning to her father.

Kyle shook his head. "No, only demons with the ability to shimmer can do that. Not that it would make a difference, because we have no idea what plane she's on, and it would take all of eternity for a demon to search every other timeline for her."

"Maybe we should call Dad?" Prue ventured. "One more person to think about this?"

Phoebe considered the idea, then shook her head. "No, Prue, this is why your father and I are getting divorced. So he doesn't get pulled into magic all the time. I think…I think it's better if he doesn't know what's going on. At least not yet."

"Well, does anyone else have any ideas?" Pen spoke up. "Because if they don't, we might need to call Uncle Jason and see what he says. We need some form of plan, and Prue is right, one more head might be a…"

"Sarina," Mel cut in. She turned and looked over at her mother. "We could call Sarina."

"Who?" Leo asked.

"High Priestess of the Khail," Kyle replied grimly. "She offered to help us stop the Source." He turned and looked over at Mel. "And no, we are not calling her. Not until hell freezes over."

"So what? We wait for Mom to die and the world to end?" Chris asked. "Somehow, I don't really like that plan."

"Working with the Khail would be suicide," Leo agreed with Kyle. "They are not to be trusted under any circumstances."

"Does anyone have any other idea? At all?" Wyatt demanded. He waited, but no one spoke, so he shrugged and said, "Look, I will kill Sarina myself if she double crosses us on this. But we don't have any other idea for how to get Mom back, and she could be trapped in some horrible world being tortured by demons as we speak."

"He's got a point," Paige consented slowly. "It isn't like we haven't worked with demons before…when we were desperate enough."

There was a silence in the room while everyone contemplated their choices, then Phoebe broke the silence and called out, "Sarina! A word, please."

There was another silence, then Sarina appeared in the room, her eyes scanning over the Halliwell family. Her gaze lingered on Leo for a moment, and her lips quirked up into a smile. "Elder," she said with a slight bow of her head.

"You want to help us?" Paige asked, stepping in between Leo and the priestess and shooting her brother-in-law a warning look before he did anything rash. "Here's a chance to prove that you are on our side."

"Alright," Sarina replied with a smirk. "What do you need."

"Wait," Chris said, his eyes on Sarina. "How do we know she won't just shimmer away to the Underworld and tell everyone that…" He frowned, not wanting to reveal what the problem was.

But everyone else understood the question, and they exchanged worried looks.

It was, surprisingly, Sarina who had the answer to the problem. She walked into the center of the room, and said, "Use the crystals. Set up a cage. I won't be able to leave until I've helped with whatever you need."

"You would do that?" Kyle asked suspiciously, his eyes narrowed.

"What do I have to do to convince you that I want the Source defeated?" Sarina asked, laughing coldly.

"Crystals, circle," Wyatt called, extending his hands and orbing the crystals around Sarina. Once he was sure the cage was in place, he turned to his father and nodded. "Okay, Dad," he murmured.

Leo stepped up to Sarina. "My family cast a power of three spell without actually having the Power of Three. My wife disappeared. We don't know how to get her back. You've been around a few millennia, what do you suggest?"

"What kind of spell was it?" Sarina asked thoughtfully.

"To Call a Lost Witch From Out of Time," Phoebe answered. She held the Book in front of the cage, showing the entry to Sarina.

"Why didn't you wait until you had the Power of Three?" she asked, puzzled.

Phoebe hesitated, exchanging a brief glance with Paige, then answered, "We lost out powers several days ago, and we haven't gotten them back yet. We don't have the Power of Three."

Sarina considered this for a moment, then asked, "Who said the spell?"

"Piper, Phoebe, and I," Paige replied. "Wyatt, Mel, and Pen." She frowned, then continued, "Although at the point when Piper disappeared, she wasn't saying the spell. She was trying to keep the candles from going out. Which put her in the center of a pentagon."

Sarina was silent, then she glanced over at Prue. "You weren't there?" she questioned. Prue shook her head and Sarina continued, "If it was that particular spell that sent her away," she nodded at the Book, "then it is that particular spell that can bring her back."

"But not without the Power of Three," Kyle interjected.

Sarina shrugged. "So use the Power of Three," she stated, as though it was the obvious solution.

"We don't have it," Wyatt snapped. "Weren't you listening?"

"You lost your powers, right?" Sarina pressed, glancing at Paige and Phoebe. She shrugged and explained, "If you don't have your powers, then you don't have the Power of Three. But that doesn't mean the Power of Three doesn't exist."

"Then who does?" Chris asked, confused.

Sarina flashed him an icy smile and turned, her eyes settling on Pen, Mel, and Prue.

* * *

Next Chapter: The Power of Three 

Due: Wed 3/8


	33. The Power of Three

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's Note: Hopefully this chapter will answer all the questions people put in their reviews. Some of the same characters (such as Kyle) show up in both timelines, so that might get a little confusing. If it helps, the first part of this chapter takes place in the original timeline, and the next two parts take place in the witch hunters' timeline that Piper got thrown into.

* * *

Chapter Thirty-Two: The Power of Three

"They don't have the Power of Three," Kyle said. He was the first to break the silence, and he turned to look at Sarina in disbelief and suspicion. "There is only one Power of Three, and as long as Phoebe, Piper, and Paige are alive, they are the ones who have it."

Sarina shook her head. "As always, you white-lighters misunderstand the obvious. Yes, there can only be on Power of Three. But your wife and her sisters don't have that power right now, so your daughters and their cousin could call for it."

"I don't understand," Chris objected. "If they call for it, doesn't that mean that Mom and Aunt Paige and Aunt Phoebe will never be able to get it back?"

Sarina's answer, when it came, was simplicity itself. "Yes."

"If all we need is Charmed power, why can't Wyatt summon Aunt Piper?" Prue asked. "He's got more power than anyone else here."

"We need the Power of Three, not Charmed Power," Leo explained slowly, his eyes still trained on Sarina. He understood what she was saying, saw the necessity of it, but was still doubtful. Giving the Power of Three to his nieces would mean that the greatest power of good the world had ever seen would be placed in the hands of teenagers. Evil would have too great an advantage, and with everything the Source was trying to do right now, could they really take that risk?

"What's the difference?" Phoebe asked, turning to her brother-in-law.

Leo sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly. "Charmed power is power that resides in the Halliwell blood lines. Anyone who is a blood relative of Melinda Warren has it. The Power of Three is a specific set of powers, telekinesis, premonitions, and molecular combustion, that are shared between three blood relatives of the Halliwell line. There are some specific spells that can only be done with the Power of Three. No matter how much power Wyatt has, no matter the fact that it is all Charmed power, he can't cast a Power of Three spell. He just can't."

"You won't lose your powers," Sarina cut in, turning to stare at Phoebe. "Eventually you will get them back. What you won't get back is the ability to cast Power of Three spells." She paused and regarded the suspicious faces that were turned towards her. "Then again, unless you can get Piper back, you stand to lose a lot more than just the Power of Three…" She left the sentence hanging as everyone absorbed her meaning.

"I think we should do it," Chris said abruptly. All eyes turned to him, and he shrugged. "Obviously this is not a decision that I get to make, but if we are voting, I vote that we do it. Mom could be anywhere, and what if she is in trouble? She might be running out of time."

"We can't take that power," Prue protested, turning to Chris. "We're too young, we aren't trained enough. The only reason we've led even remotely normal lives is because all the demons were afraid of Mom, Aunt Paige, and Aunt Piper. If they found out that the Power of Three got passed down to three relatively untrained teenage witches…? They would have a field day!"

"Your mother and her sisters were untrained when they received their powers," Kyle pointed out with a sigh. He did not like the plan anymore than Prue did, but he just couldn't think of another way, and Chris was right, they were running out of time.

"And Prue died," Phoebe added her two cents.

A dismal silence met those words, then Chris ventured his opinion again. "Does anyone else have another plan?"

"I can't do it," Pen objected. She glanced over at Prue, who nodded quietly in agreement. "We can't do it, we can't take that responsibility."

"The Source is trying to bring about the end of everything," Wyatt said slowly. He glanced over at Chris and then at his father. "I'm with Chris, I think we should do this. I don't see another way."

"I'm against it," Paige said quickly. "I can't put my daughters at that kind of risk. There is another way, and we will find it."

"But will we find it in time?" Kyle asked softly, glancing over at his wife. "Paige, Prue, and Pen are against it, Wyatt and Chris are for it. What about you, Phoebe? Leo?"

Leo closed his eyes and leaned against the wall, trying to order his troubled thoughts. Phoebe looked back and forth between her daughter and Sarina, as though hoping to come up with an idea, but drawing a blank.

Finally, Leo said, "I just don't think we have another choice."

Phoebe bit her lip, then said, "I won't force this on my daughter. Whatever Prue decides she wants to do…"

Kyle nodded and then said, "Well, I am with Leo on this one, so that makes it four votes for and four votes against." He turned and glanced at his other daughter who had been silent up until now. "Mel?"

Mel ran a hand through her dark brown hair and said, "I think we should try to come up with another option first. If we can't…If we can't find out anything else, then I think we should do this."

Leo and Kyle exchanged a brief glance, then Leo said, "I'll check with the other Elders. Maybe they'll have another idea." He orbed away, and the rest of the family lapsed into silence, unsure of what to do next.

Sarina watched them all silently, a smug expression on her face. She actually had some respect for this family, having now dealt with them on a personal level. They cared what everyone else in the family thought, and they valued their loved ones more than anything else. It was a powerful trait, the loyalty to family, and one that had served the Khail well over the past few millennia.

She almost didn't want to have to betray them.

Almost.

She looked down at her hands, quietly contemplating what she had heard. The older set of sisters did not have their powers, the Halliwell matriarch was caught in a different timeline, and the Source was trying to bring about the end of the world.

Interesting.

She debated summoning the other Khail and having them kill the Halliwells now, but she decided against it. She would wait until she was sure she had the upper hand, until she was sure that her plan would work out, before removing the Halliwell threat.

For now, she would play nice.

* * *

"What are you doing here?" Penny demanded the moment she caught sight of Melinda. She was sitting on the sofa in the sunroom, flipping through the pages of a teen magazine and glaring at the entire room in anger, frustration, and teenage angst.

"I came to visit," Melinda replied, unfazed by Penny's hostile words. "I do that from time to time, seeing as it is my family that lives here."

Penny eyed Melinda for a moment, then switched her gaze to Piper. "I didn't hear Melinda use the door," she said in an accusatory tone. "I'm going to guess that she orbed in and you probably didn't even care."

Piper frowned slightly and glanced at Melinda. Melinda sent her a quick smile and said to Penny, "Courtney is coming over soon. Can you please play nice around her?"

Penny shrugged and replied, "Sure, whatever." She turned and looked back at her magazine, her eyes dark and gloomy.

Piper walked over to Penny and took a seat next to her. Penny looked up sharply but said nothing, waiting.

"I'm not the Piper that you know," Piper said at last, unsure how else to start this conversation.

Penny raised both her eyebrows at that and shot an incredulous look at Melinda. "What?"

"I'm from a different timeline," Piper explained.

Melinda nodded and quickly supported the other version of her mother. "Yes, she is. A timeline where the witch hunts don't exist."

"Really?" That seemed to get Penny's interest, and she dropped the magazine onto the table. "What is it like?"

"Oh, we aren't allowed to ask her about it," Melinda replied with a yawn. "Kyle doesn't think it is a good idea to talk about other timelines since we obviously can't live in them."

Penny rolled her eyes and snapped, "Of course not. The Elders never think it is a good idea for us to discuss anything magical."

"Well, with the witch hunts going on, it could get us killed," Melinda pointed out calmly.

"Whatever," Penny retorted with a shake of her head.

The doorbell rang suddenly, and Melinda turned and glanced over at the hallway. She began to walk away, calling over her shoulder, "Remember, Courtney doesn't know anything about magic, and we would like to keep it that way."

A few moments later, Melinda walked back into the room, leading a stunningly beautiful girl behind her. Courtney was tall, her long blonde hair cascading over her sparkling eyes. She was dressed it what could only be designer wear, and incredibly expensive designer wear at that. She was carrying a small purse over one shoulder and a bottle of water in one hand.

It was a far cry from the Courtney who was Wyatt's girlfriend, the one who wore peasant blouses and long skirts and was fascinated by anything Wiccan.

"Hello, Mrs. Halliwell," Courtney greeted Piper cheerfully. Her gaze flicked to Penny, and she gave the girl a brief nod. "Hey, Penny."

Penny barely glanced up from the magazine. "Hey," she drawled in a bored tone.

Piper shifted, slightly uncomfortable by Penny's attitude, but Courtney seemed not to mind. It occurred to Piper that since she obviously knew the family well, she must be used to Penny's ways.

"I ran into Nick yesterday," Courtney said with a slight grin, shooting a knowing look at Melinda. "He was asking about you."

Melinda blushed bright red, and grabbed Courtney by the arm. "Why don't we go upstairs?" she asked quickly.

"You mean you don't want to talk about Nick in front of your mother?" Courtney asked innocently, her blue eyes wide.

Penny was grinning at this, watching her older cousin squirm. Courtney was laughing silently, and Melinda was staring determinedly anywhere except at her mother. Piper watched the interaction between the three girls and smiled inwardly. It was good to know that, despite everything, they all still seemed able to share a few moments of laughter.

"Come on," Melinda hissed, dragging Courtney away from the room. As the two girls left, Melinda added in a low undertone, "I am going to kill you."

Once the two were gone, Piper turned to Penny. "Who's Nick?" she asked curiously.

Penny frowned slightly. "You really know nothing about this timeline?" she asked. Piper shook her head, and Penny replied, "Nick is Melinda's boyfriend. Has been for a few years. We're expecting them to get engaged."

"Why didn't Melinda want to talk about him in front of me?" Piper wanted to know.

Penny gave a tiny smile. "A few days ago, you walked in on them…you know…making out." Her eyes suddenly darkened. "You weren't upset with Melinda, but when I just _kissed_ a guy, you went off the deep end."

Piper thought about that for a moment, then said, "Melinda is old enough to…"

"So am I!" Penny snapped. "It isn't as though I am five, Aunt Piper. I'm on teenager now. I'm a teenager who grew up in a world where the average life span for people with magic is twenty! If the demons don't get us, the witch hunters will."

"And I am a woman who lost her husband, both her sisters, and her brother-in-law," Piper replied calmly. "Is it that unreasonable that I would be so overprotective of you?"

"Yes," Penny ground out, but her eyes betrayed her doubt.

At that moment, Kyle orbed into the room. He glanced between the two and said, "Penny, can you go upstairs and make sure that Courtney doesn't come down until I am done talking to Piper?"

Penny raised an eyebrow. "How did you know Courtney was here?" she muttered more to herself than to Kyle. "And why do you and Melinda get to orb into a room and no one cares while I use my magic once and in complete private and everyone blows up?" She got up and stalked from the room.

"The Elders want to talk to you," Kyle explained the moment Penny was gone. "They want to know exactly what happened so that they can plan for any problems that might occur by you being here."

"Are you taking me Up There?" Piper asked in interest. She was curious to see if the Elders had changed any in this timeline, or were they still the same meddlesome, infuriatingly composed and self-assured agents of good?

"No, actually one of the Elders is going to come down to talk to you," Kyle replied, taking a seat on the sofa.

The sound of orbs filled the room, and Piper turned in time to see a familiar figure appear in front of her. Her heart stopped beating and her eyes widened in horror as she looked at the distinguished face of the last person she ever wanted to see. She whispered his name as her hands automatically rose in front of her, and her blood began to boil.

"Gideon…"

* * *

"My Liege." The demon shimmered into the cave and bowed before the Source.

The Source frowned at the demon. He had not requested anyone to visit him at the moment, and most demons did not simply walk into his lair without an invitation. He conjured a fireball in one hand, prepared to end the demon's life, but the next words the demon spoke halted him in his tracks.

"There is a rumor about Piper Halliwell floating around."

The Source extinguished the fireball. "Oh?"

"The rumor is that a Piper from a different timeline has inhabited her body." The demon smiled and stood up, his red eyes flashing with anticipation.

"From a different timeline?" the Source mused. "I kill her, and I kill two different versions of her," he continued. "Which means that I may destroy the Power of Three in another timeline…" The idea pleased him greatly, but he did not want to make any rash moves. He had learned along time ago that even without her sisters, Piper Halliwell was a force to be feared. "Perhaps it is time I revoked my peace treaty with her."

"I would be honored if you would allow me to complete the task," the demon said softly.

The Source frowned, his black eyes flashing with fire. "What makes you think you can defeat a witch who has defied me for decades?" he asked dangerously.

"This is not the same witch," the demon replied, "and she knows next to nothing about this timeline. I have that to my advantage, and I intend to use it."

The Source considered this for a moment, then said, "Very well. Take care of this however you see fit." He leveled a warning glance at the demon. "But I hope you intend to succeed, or you will have worse to worry about then Piper Halliwell." He left the threat hanging in the air between the two.

The demon smiled grimly. "I have every intention of succeeding at this, my Liege," he replied chillingly. He shimmered out of the cave.

The Source stared at the spot where the demon had stood. If the demon wanted to try and kill Piper Halliwell, then so be it. But this was too good an opportunity to pass up, and the Source was not prepared to take chances. With Shax gone, he had filled his ranks with other assassins, one in particular who showed promise.

He closed his eyes and raised his hands, calling on his power to summon the assassin witch he had in mind. A moment later, she appeared in the room, her brown eyes narrowed into thin slits as she regarded the Source.

"Yes?" she asked coldly. She did not grovel before the Source like many others did.

The Source eyed her appraisingly as he replied, "I have sent a demon to kill Piper Halliwell. I want you to complete the task should he fail." He expected her to protest that killing the only surviving Charmed One was too difficult and she could not do it on her own. He expected her to speak apprehensively of the dangers. He expected her to inquire into his motives for wanting the witch dead after such a long time of tense peace.

She did none of those things.

Pushing a strand of brown hair out of her face, she asked simply, "What is the fee?" The Source smiled and extended a hand, conjuring a contract. She took the paper from him and read over the terms, then nodded her head in approval. "Consider it done," she replied, signing her name at the bottom.

The Source nodded and abruptly flamed out of the cave. The assassin remained where she was for a moment, her eyes clouded with confusion. Something lingered in the air, some feeling she could not quite place. Like a half-forgotten dream, she could vaguely feel that it was there, but when she tried to remember it, it slipped through her fingers and disappeared.

And then quite suddenly she was hit by a memory that was hers and yet not hers, a vision of something familiar yet foreign.

_Wait. Do you have to leave so soon? Can't I help?_

_You want to help me? Some day in the future when I ask you what it feels like to kill, don't lie to me. Don't tell me you don't feel a thing._

Bianca blinked and shook her head to clear her misty thoughts. "What the hell was that?"

* * *

Next Chapter: My Son's Killer

Due: Monday 2/13


	34. My Son's Killer

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: This entire chapter takes place in the Morality Bites future. Which means no Chris or Wyatt, sorry about that. More on them and the other Halliwells in the next chapter.

* * *

Chapter Thirty-Three: My Son's Killer

Piper's reaction was almost immediate. Gideon barely had time to duck before the chair behind him blew up, a moment later the chandelier shattered, raining shards of crystal and glass onto the floor below.

Kyle jumped from his seat and grabbed Piper's arms, pinning them to her side and effectively stopping the sudden attack. Gideon faltered and took a step backwards, confusion in his eyes as gave Piper a slow once over.

"What are you doing?" Kyle hissed, shooting an apprehensive look towards the stairs. Somewhere up there was Courtney, a girl who believed that the Halliwells were completely normal. If she learned the truth, there was no telling how quickly the witch hunters would show up at their door, and right now that was a distraction they could not afford. He could only hope that Melinda would have enough sense to keep her friend upstairs until this was all taken care of.

"He," Piper snarled, yanking herself out of Kyle's grip and taking a threatening step towards Gideon, "is my son's murderer!"

"Your son?" Gideon echoed, confused.

"Murderer?" Kyle demanded. That was a story that Piper had not told him.

Piper launched herself towards the taller Elder, pummeling him with all her strength. As her fists landed repeated blows on his chest, he stumbled backwards and tried to step out of the way, while at the same time exchanging confused looks with Kyle. The white-lighter moved to pull Piper away from Gideon, but the Charmed One spun around and flicked her wrists at Kyle, blowing him up.

Gideon finally managed to wave his hand at Piper, orbing her out of the room. He paused for a moment to catch his breath, then he waited for Kyle to reappear. A moment later, the white-lighter reformed in the room, and the two stared at each other for a moment in complete silence.

Then…

"What the hell was that?"

Both men turned to see Penny standing on the stairs. Her face was twisted into a look of confusion and horror, her eyes wide. She was resting one hand on the banister and the other hand hovered in front of her mouth as she shook her head slowly in bewilderment.

Melinda was standing behind her cousin, her face pale, her eyes guarded. They had heard the noise from downstairs, and Courtney had been the first to run out of the room. By the time the two Halliwells had caught up with the blonde mortal, Courtney had witnessed the entire incident. Melinda had been forced to freeze her friend, and then she and Penny had watched in open-mouthed shock.

Melinda was the first to break out of her dazed stupor. "Where's my mother?" she demanded, turning to Gideon.

"Up There," Gideon replied smoothly. He eyed the frozen Courtney. "You will need to erase her memory of all this," he said, giving Kyle a pointed look. "Otherwise she could hand you over to the witch hunters."

"Courtney would never do that," Melinda protested heatedly, not liking the idea of altering Courtney's memory. Memory dust was a tricky substance to use, and they could very well end up erasing some memory unrelated to this episode. It would be so much easier if they could just talk to Courtney, explain that magic wasn't a bad thing, that it was only bad if the people using it were bad.

"Melinda, we can't take that risk," Kyle replied reasonably.

Melinda stared at him for a moment, then turned back to Gideon. "Bring my mother back," she ordered.

"I think it would be better if we finished this conversation Up There," Gideon replied, still looking at Courtney. "Less chance of her exposing magic."

"Then takes us with you," Penny said abruptly, breaking into the conversation for the first time. She pinned Gideon with a serious stare. "Take us to Aunt Piper." She did not get along well with her aunt or cousin, but they were her family, no matter the timeline, and if Piper had said that this man had murdered her…

Wait.

Son?

Penny glanced back at Melinda, and realized that Melinda had already noted that discrepancy. How did Piper have a son, when Melinda was an only child?

"What exactly was that other timeline like?" Penny asked suspiciously, turning to Kyle.

Kyle shook his head slowly. "The other timeline doesn't matter. What matters is saving this timeline, and the only way to do that is to ensure that Courtney doesn't talk."

"She won't!" Melinda snapped angrily.

"Melinda, this is for the…" Gideon cut in, his tone somber and grave.

"Don't start with your whole 'for the Greater Good'" Melinda hissed, spinning on Gideon. "You and your stupid 'Greater Good' never got us anywhere expect burned at the stake!" She turned on her heel and stalked up the stairs, her face flushed with anger. "If you won't take me to my mother," she called over her shoulder, "I'll find her myself." And with that last threat, she orbed out.

And then the demon attack.

Penny barely had time to register the flying energy ball. She reacted on instinct, years of training kicking in. Raising both hands, she used her telekinesis to direct the energy ball back towards the demon. At the same time, Kyle and Gideon spun around, each prepared to fight.

This was not a peaceful timeline, and there were no such things as pacifists anymore.

Gideon shot a stream of electricity from his finger tips, but the demon easily shimmered out of the way. He waved a hand, using his own telekinesis to knock the Elder off his feet and send him careening into Penny. The two crashed onto the floor.

Kyle quickly grabbed a lamp from the nearby table and threw it with all his might, striking the demon on the back of the head. Momentarily stunned, the demon was then unable to protect himself from Penny's wild attack, and the force of her telekinetic blows sent him flying threw the air. He smashed into the wall and slipped to the floor, and Gideon finished him off with a well aimed burst of electricity.

There was a moment of silence, then Gideon turned and offered his hand to Penny. She took is gratefully and pulled herself off the floor, her eyes wide as she eyed the damage done to the room.

"I think it is safe to say that the Source has revoked the truce," Penny commented dryly.

"The other Elders will need to be informed," Gideon said swiftly. "We will need to prepare a strategy." He glanced at Kyle. "I can only assume that the timing of this attack was not a coincidence. The Source must have known that this Piper is not our Piper."

Kyle nodded in agreement. "What now?" he asked. "Someone still needs to talk to Piper, find out why she reacted to you the way she did."

Gideon puzzled over this for a moment. "I don't see how I could have ever murdered a Halliwell," he mused. "If that is truly the crime she is accusing me of…"

"Uh, guys?" Penny cut in. "I think we have another problem to deal with."

The white-lighter and the Elder turned and looked at the teenage witch, then followed her gaze to the now empty staircase. At some point during the brief fight, Courtney had unfrozen and slipped unnoticed out of the house.

* * *

Piper fumed as she paced back and forth through the mist and fog that enveloped Up There. All around her, Elders and white-lighter eyed her in suspicion. Her sudden arrival had caused quite a scene, and several Elders had gone so far as to accuse her of being a shape-shifter that had manipulated them so that she could gain access to their realm. But after she had threatened to blow them all up if they came near her again, they had kept their distance.

And she had continued pacing.

There were several different, contradictory and confusing thoughts that were traveling through her mind. How did she have her powers back? Was it something about being in a different timeline? This Piper had not lost her powers, and since she was inhabiting this Piper's body, perhaps she still had access to them as well.

How was she going to get out of here? And once she left, could she go back to the other world knowing that she had lost the chance to have a daughter? She would never trade Wyatt and Chris for Melinda, but how could she trade her own daughter for her sons? Either way, she was betraying a child, her child…

Even if she did get out of here, was there definitely a world to go back to? What if the Source had already completed his plan? What if Leo and Chris hadn't made it back from wherever they were? What if her family was already destroyed?

And then, the overarching thought that plagued her mind…

Gideon.

Alive.

Her fingers twitched, itching to blow him up.

And just as she thought of that desire, a cloud of orbs appeared in front of her, and Gideon stepped into the misty realm. Before Piper had a chance to do anything, however, Gideon had quickly waved his hand, and Piper found she couldn't move.

The other Elders watched curiously, it was unusual for an Elder to use that power on anyone, especially an agent of good. Most of the white-lighters had slipped unobtrusively away, realizing this was not their place anymore, and the Elders needed privacy to work out whatever the problem with this witch was.

"I am truly sorry, Piper, but I can't have you attack me right now. We have bigger problems to worry about, such as finding a way to send you back home," Gideon said, his voice filled with sincerest regret.

"Murderer," Piper snarled, struggling against the invisible force that held her in place. "I'll never work with you."

"You don't have that choice," Gideon said heavily. "Tell me what I did that made you despise me so much." It was not a request.

Piper hesitated, then shrugged and replied, "You killed my youngest son."

"How? Why?" Gideon demanded as the other Elders gasped at the accusation. They crowded closer, eager to hear about this different timeline.

Slowly, reluctantly, Piper recounted the details of the other Chris, skimming over parts and only highlighting the main points. She told about how Gideon had tried to kill Wyatt, how it would have turned him evil, how Chris had come back to prevent it, and how Gideon had killed Chris in cold blood.

And then there was a silence.

"You're oldest son is Twice Blessed?" one of the Elders asked at last, confusion on her face. She was tall, with long blonde hair and tan skin. Her blue eyes were bright, but surrounded by wrinkles, the only sign of her age.

"What if he is?" Piper shot back, biting off the words.

"The Twice Blessed Child…" The murmur ran through the other Elders. "We were right to fear his strength," one of the Elders said coldly.

Another nodded in agreement, "No one being should have that much power. It gives him the predisposition towards evil."

"He would never have turned evil if Gideon hadn't tried to kill him," Piper hissed. She turned her eyes to the British Elder. "When we stopped you, we saved him. He's doing well now, he's good and powerful. You're the one who turned him evil, you're the one who brought about your own greatest fear!"

"How dare you accuse us…?"

"It was your own failing to raise him…"

"It was for the greater good…"

"If there was any chance he could turn he had to be eliminated…"

The arguments broke out among the crowd, and Piper suddenly shivered as she heard the comments. How could the leaders of Good be so cold, so callous?

"Enough!"

Gideon's voice rang through the crowd, silencing everyone. "That is enough. We do not kill innocents, regardless of how much power they should or shouldn't have had." He turned to Piper, his face a picture of sorrow. "If what you say is true, then I am honestly sorry for the pain that I caused you. I cannot imagine why I would have done something like that, but I assure you, this version of me does not hold the same opinion as the other one did."

Piper gave a bitter chuckle. "You're sorry? You ruined everything, and all you have to say is that you are sorry? You killed my _son_!" She glanced around her, then asked suspiciously, "How do I know you haven't made some plot to kill Melinda as well?"

"Melinda is not Twice Blessed," Gideon answered simply. Piper raised an eyebrow, and Gideon elaborated, "She is twice blessed in the sense that she was born of a white-lighter and a witch, but she is not _the_ Twice Blessed. She is not the Prophesized Child."

"Only Wyatt is?" Piper asked quietly, confused.

Gideon nodded. "It would appear so. Each prophesy can only have one person who it speaks about. If that person does not exist in one timeline, then that timeline does not fulfill that prophecy. We do not have the Twice Blessed Child, but we probably have others that your time does not."

Piper nodded, then said snidely, "Well, at least you won't have a chance to try and kill Wyatt in this timeline."

The other Elders bristled, but Gideon just shook his head heavily. "Courtney saw you use magic, Piper, and she had disappeared. She's not a witch, we can't sense her, and if she turns your family over to the witch hunters… The Source has revoked his truce, he sent a demon to attack you. We do not have time to argue over these other matters. We must get you back into your own timeline, and quickly, if we are to have any chance of repairing the damage your presence has caused to _this_ world."

Piper swallowed. "Melinda? Penny? Kyle? Are they okay?"

"They're safe," Gideon answered, waving his hand and releasing Piper from the invisible prison. "For now."

Piper nodded and glared at Gideon. "Alright, I'll work with you," she spat. "But only because my family is in danger and I don't have another option."

"I am not the same Gideon you knew," the Elder replied quietly.

Piper frowned suddenly, distant words echoing in her mind.

_Despite the fact that we did not make the choices and live through the same events of the other timeline, the fundamental person we are is still unchanged._

"No," she said slowly, looking at Gideon seriously. "No, you aren't. You are the same Gideon, and the only thing that has changed in the time and place."

And Gideon had to pause, recognizing the truth in her words.

* * *

Courtney ran. She ran blindly, tears pricking at her eyes. The streets were filled with people, all of them looking at her in concern and confusion, and a few in suspicion, but she ignored them, bumping into people and pushing through clumps of pedestrians in her haste. She wanted, _needed_, to get as far away as possible from what she had just seen, what she had just witnessed.

How?

After all these years, how could Melinda have never told her?

They were _witches_.

Magic. The word was filthy, like mud on her tongue. She could barely think it, let alone actually associate the it with the Halliwells.

She remembered spending hours shopping with Melinda, listening to Penny's angst teenage rants, eating Piper's amazing cooking. She had met the mysterious handyman Kyle, who Penny insisted Piper had a crush on, on several occasion. She _knew_ these people.

Or, at least, she thought she knew them.

Now she saw that she was wrong.

She didn't want to believe it of them. How could they ever be capable of anything so horrible? She knew what Phoebe Halliwell had done, the entire world knew what she had done. But that was murderer, that was cruel and horrible, and how could these good and kind people ever do something like that?

Courtney paused long enough to catch her breath. She shook her head and wiped the tears away angrily. She should have seen it, should have known there was something a little off with the family. How could she have been so blind?

"You look like hell."

Courtney jumped and turned to look at the woman standing in front of her. She had been so caught up, she hadn't even heard the stranger approach, but now the woman was standing there, holding out a Kleenex and offering a gentle smile.

Courtney took the Kleenex and shrugged. "Thanks," she muttered. "I'm fine."

The woman tucked a strand of dark hair behind one ear and nodded. "Alright," she said, clearly not buying Courtney's statement. She unconsciously ran a hand over the front of her shirt, smoothing out the red silk. "I'm Bianca, by the way," she introduced herself, cherry-red lips splitting into a smile.

Courtney nodded. "I'm Courtney," she sniffed.

Without warning, Bianca closed her hand swiftly over Courtney's wrist. Her grip was strong, like steel, and panic leapt into Courtney's eyes.

"Actually," Bianca said smoothly, "You're the bait." And quite abruptly, and in broad daylight, in view of every pedestrian on the street, she shimmered away, taking Courtney with her.

* * *

Next Chapter: Things I Wish I Didn't Know 

Due: Fri 3/17


	35. Things I Wish I Didn't Know

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I believe I answered everyone. I am so sorry for the delay on the update, but the chapter was, for no particular reason, really difficult to write. I switch back and forth between the two timelines, but it should be evident which one I am talking about.

* * *

Chapter Thirty-Four: Things I Wish I Didn't Know

The reaction was almost immediate. The moment Bianca and Courtney disappeared, pandemonium broke out in the streets. The shriek of "Witch! Witch!" was drowned out only by the roar of the several cars that swooped onto the scene. They were unmarked black cars, and each was filled with a witch hunting team. The witch hunters were dressed in black and orange, the colors symbolizing the burning of evil magic. They swarmed from the cars, flocking like vultures to a kill.

Kyle watched in silence. He had arrived in time to see the strange girl approach Courtney, and a sixth sense had silently screamed out a warning. He wanted to protect Courtney, to explain to her that they weren't evil, to at the very least erase her memory of what happened. He wanted to make sure that they weren't defeated in this battle.

As the two shimmered away, as the witch hunters approached, Kyle realized with startling clarity that they were already losing.

Part of him knew that he needed to help Courtney. The other part of him pointed out sensibly that the best thing he could do for his charges was to forget everything he had just seen and walked away, making sure that there was nothing to link Courtney's disappearance to the Halliwells. The witch hunters would be only too happy to start accusations, and the few surviving Halliwells would be burned at the stake.

But a third part of him also spoke up, reminding him of the other timeline. The timeline in which the Source was trying, and quite possibly succeeding, in bringing an end to everything. If they didn't figure out a way to get the other Piper back into her time, the Source would destroy every timeline, and neither the witch hunters nor Courtney's fate would really matter in the end.

They'd all cease to exist anyway.

Let a single innocent die, or let the entire world, and every other world, die?

He couldn't save everyone. He knew he couldn't save everyone. He wished he could change it, wished he didn't have to deal with this knowledge, but he knew the truth, and he knew what he had to do.

Triage.

Pick the most important thing and save it, and if others died, then they died.

Kyle rubbed his eyes and turned away. Maybe one day soon he could save Courtney, but right now…

Right now she was on her own, and he had more important matters to deal with.

* * *

Melinda closed her eyes and concentrated, trying to get a reading on her mother. Since she was only half white-lighter, she did not have the ability to orb Up There. Or, at least, the Elders had never explained to her how. So although she could locate her mother, she couldn't reach her. 

Sighing, Melinda turned and looked out at the city all around her. She was standing on top of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a nice place to think, one of the few where she felt safe. The constant surveillance that they were always under disappeared when she came up here, because Nathaniel Pratt, despite all his planning, had not thought to install video cameras on the top of the Bridge.

And as soon as she was old enough to create her own spells, Melinda had carefully cast a protective spell, one that would interfere with any surveillance that would ever be put up here.

Below her, the city stretched out like a mass of writhing snakes. Cars streamed up and down the streets, tiny people moved in bunches. People learned to stay together in this time, to never walk out doors without a weapon and a friend or two to watch over you. Many innocent men and women had been caught and burned as witches for simply looking suspicious, and people didn't trust strangers anymore. They stayed to the shadows, hoping to slip by, unnoticed.

_He is my son's murderer!_

Melinda was more perceptive than most of the Elders gave her credit for. Perhaps it had to do with her white-lighter half, perhaps it was simply the fact that she had grown up in this world where everything anyone did always had a second meaning, and ulterior motive, and if she wasn't careful, those secrets would get her killed. Penny was always the stronger one, magic-wise, but she was the one who could read people like a book.

The way Piper had looked at her when she first orbed into the attic, as though she was seeing a stranger. Kyle's quick request that they not talk about the other timeline. Piper's hesitation every time she asked a question about what she was like in the other timeline.

_He is my son's murderer!_

Things were different, of course they were different. But never in a million years would Melinda have guessed that they could be that different.

Piper Halliwells had sons.

And she didn't exist.

She knew it. Somehow, she just knew that her suspicions were correct.

And she wished she didn't.

* * *

Piper allowed Gideon to orb her back into the manor. As soon as they appeared, she stepped away from the other man and walked determinedly into the sunroom, wanting to put as much distance as possible between herself and the man who had killed her son. 

But as she stepped into the sunroom, she saw something else, someone else, and her breath caught in her throat.

"Bianca…"

She was standing there, staring at Piper with cool appraisal. Her hair was a bit darker, a bit longer, and it cascaded over her shoulders in a shinning ripple. Her lips were pressed together in a thin line, one hand rested against her hip, and the other held an athame at Penny's throat.

But when Piper said her name, the Phoenix assassin blinked, surprise etching into her the lines between her eyes. "How do you know my name?" she demanded harshly.

Piper stared at her possibly soon-to-be daughter-in-law and replied icily, "I always knew you were evil."

"How. Do. You. Know. My. Name?" Bianca repeated, enunciating each word and pressing her athame harder against Penny's skin. The young witch gave the tiniest whimper as she felt the cold metal nick her skin, and Piper's face drained of color.

"Let Penny go," the Halliwell matriarch ordered. "Let Penny go, and I'll tell you whatever you want to know."

Bianca flashed a cat-like smile. "You are going to tell me what I want to know anyway," she answered with a smug grin. "Unless, of course, you want to watch your niece die."

Piper held her breath, not sure of what to do. She was trapped, and she had no way out of the predicament.

"You're from a different timeline," Bianca continued smoothly. "Do I know you in that timeline? Is that how you know my name?"

"Yes," Piper whispered, her eyes never leaning Penny's face.

"Interesting," Bianca murmured. "Do I work for the Source in that timeline as well?"

And suddenly Piper felt her anger rise and her temper snap. "You work for no one but yourself! You tried to convince us that you were good, you convinced Chris of it, but I know the truth. I see it now, you aren't different. You haven't changed!"

"Changed?" Bianca whispered. Her face took on a contemplative expression as she considered what Piper had said. "I pretended to be…good?" The name Chris seemed familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. Shaking her head, she swallowed back her confusion. The other timeline didn't matter, she had orders from the Source in this one.

And yet the vision came back, as strong and powerful as before.

_Wait. Do you have to leave so soon? Can't I help?_

_You want to help me? Some day in the future when I ask you what it feels like to kill, don't lie to me. Don't tell me you don't feel a thing._

The assassin witch frowned slightly as realization dawned on her features. "I found a way out," she murmured. "I found a way out of this life."

"Don't try to play the reformed sinner while you have an athame at my niece's throat," Piper snarled.

And those words snapped Bianca out of her trance. Whatever she had or hadn't done in a previous life was not important because she was in this life, and in this life she was only one thing.

An assassin.

She gave Piper a cold smile. "Oh, don't worry. I'm not planning on ending little Penny's life right now. She's mostly just insurance that you don't attack me during this conversation. Anyway, I don't need her. I've got that pretty friend of your daughter's. Courtney, I believe?"

"You've got Courtney?" Piper demanded.

Bianca nodded. "I do," she said. "And while I am sure she is enjoying her day trapped in the Underworld, she would probably be much happier talking to the witch hunters. And what stories she could tell them about you all." She flashed a wicked smile and suddenly shoved Penny away from her and into Piper.

Piper instantly grabbed her niece, shoving the girl behind her to protect her from the deadly assassin.

"So unless you want Courtney talking to the witch hunters, I suggest you, Penny, and Melinda drop by my pace of residence tonight at midnight." Bianca tossed a piece of paper with an address onto the floor at Piper's feet, and shimmered out.

* * *

"I can't do this, Chris. I can't take the Power of Three," Prue objected as she paced back and forth across the floor of his room. Her dark hair swished back and forth as she walked, and her eyes were wide with frustration and apprehension. She bit her bottom lip and shot a glance in her cousin's direction. 

Chris was sitting on the edge of the bed, his expression thoughtful. His green eyes were glum, his entire posture hunched over as he silently contemplated their choices. Although he was relieved to be back here, and far away from the dinosaur and the desert, he couldn't help but feel slightly guilty that it had come at the cost of his mother's safety. And now there seemed to be only one way to get Piper back, and his cousins didn't want to do it.

Kyle had returned from speaking to the Elders just a few moments ago, and they had offered nothing in the way of advice. In fact, most of the Elders agreed with Sarina, they wanted Prue, Mel, and Pen to take the Power of Three. They were afraid of the Source, of what he would accomplish, and the longer Piper remained in some other place and time, the greater the chance the Source had of winning.

They needed Piper, and they were running out of time.

"Do you have a choice?" Chris asked at last, his voice weary. He ran a hand through his sloppy hair and gave Prue a hard stare. "Family comes first."

"What you are asking me to do is…"

"To save my mother," Chris cut in smoothly.

"It isn't that simple," Prue snapped, annoyed.

"Yes, Prue, it really is. This is our only chance of saving my Mom," Chris pointed out simply. "And I know that it has serious repercussions for you, and I know it will change everything for all of us, but I can't just let Mom die."

"We will find another way," Prue said staunchly.

Chris raised an eyebrow. "But will we find it in time?"

* * *

"I can't believe you are seriously thinking of doing this," Pen said slowly as she walked into the sunroom. Mel was sitting on the loveseat, leaning back against the cushions with her eyes closed. The sun came in through the windows, illuminating the room with a golden light. 

Mel opened one eye and glanced over at Pen. She sighed and closed the eye again, then said, "Do you have a better idea?"

"Do you know what they've done?" Pen said, taking a seat next to her twin. Off Mel's confused look, she elaborated, "Mom and the Aunts. Do you know what they've done? The things they've accomplished?"

Mel rolled her eyes. "Of course I do. Everyone does."

"Exactly," Pen jumped on Mel's statement. "Everyone does. Why? Because the things they've done have been close to miracles. Taking out the Source on multiple occasions. Defeating the Titans, stopping the Avatars, vanquishing Barbas and Zankou…and that is only the famous stuff that makes it into the Charmed Textbooks. It doesn't even include the day-to-day vanquishes. How can we take on that role? How can we ever hope to be as good as they were?"

"We can't," Mel replied pragmatically. "But we will be the best we can be. It's all anyone can ask of us."

"Wow, you really go for platitudes, don't you?" Pen smirked, shaking her head in disbelief. "That sounds like something Dad or Uncle Leo would say."

Mel gave her sister a short grin. She absently twisted a strand of hair between her thumb and forefinger, then said, "I don't like this anymore than you do. And I _am_ scared of not being good enough, of not being the saviors of the magical community that Mom and the Aunts are. But I am more terrified by the thought of losing Aunt Piper, of losing to the Source, of…of having this entire world turn into nothingness. And in the end, I'm not sure we have another choice."

"I know. And I understand why we have to do this. I understand," Pen said heavily, crossing her arms over her chest and wishing she didn't.

* * *

Phoebe held her breath as she listened to the phone ringing. She didn't want to do this, didn't want to talk to him right now, didn't want to drag him into this. It was exactly this sort of magical mess she had tried so hard to keep him out of, this type of problem that had been the cause of their divorce. 

But he answered, and she found herself speaking without thinking.

"Jason? Hi, I just…I wanted to see how you were doing?"

"I'm alright," came the surprised answer. "How are you? Is everything okay?"

Phoebe closed her eyes and leaned her head against the cool tile wall of the bathroom. She wanted to see how he was doing, she wanted to make sure he was okay, and she wanted to tell him that his daughter might very well be calling for the greatest power of good the world had ever seen, and by doing so setting herself up to be a target for every demon, warlock, and dark-lighter out there.

But she didn't.

Couldn't.

"Everything's fine, Jason. I just wanted to hear your voice."

"You wanted to hear my voice?" Jason repeated, confused. "Phoebe, we aren't married anymore. You can't call every time you want to..."

"Please?" Phoebe whispered. "I just...I just needed to..." She sighed and closed her eyes. "No, you are right, this isn't fair to you. I'll talk to you later, okay? We have to discuss custody of Prue."

"Right." Jason replied, not entirely sure what to think. "Talk to you later."

* * *

"We have to figure out a way to send you back to the other timeline," Gideon said, rubbing his eyes wearily and glancing over at Piper. 

The eldest Charmed One seemed not to hear him. She was leaning against the wall next to the window, staring out at the slowly sinking sun. Melinda had orbed back a few minutes later, and after being appraised of everything that had happened, she had gone to find Penny and make sure the younger Halliwell was surviving the ordeal. Kyle, too, had returned, his face unusually somber and grim, and he paced the floor of the sunroom, his footsteps echoing slightly in the emptiness.

"Piper…?"

"I have to find Courtney," Piper said slowly, turning around, the address Bianca had given her clutched in one hand. "I have to figure out a way to save Courtney and not get us all killed."

"Actually," Gideon replied, "you need to return to your own timeline."

"I can't just leave while my family is in danger," Piper objected heatedly.

"Your other family, the one currently in your timeline, needs you," Kyle pointed out. "They can't defeat the Source without you."

Piper raised an eyebrow. "So you would have me just leave Courtney? Leave everyone? I can't do that. I won't."

"When you leave this timeline, another version of you will come back," Gideon countered. "A version that grew up here, that knows how to live in this world. She can do much more good than you can."

"What if its too late?" Piper demanded. "What if by the time we send me back to my timeline and bring your Piper back, Courtney has already talked to the witch hunters? It's only a few hours to midnight now, and we have no idea how to get me back to the other timeline!"

"What if the Source manages to end everything?" Kyle asked softly. "What if he succeeds because you are stuck here, trying to save Courtney? We will all die anyway."

"I can't abandon an innocent," Piper hissed.

"You have to," Gideon replied. "You have to realize that there are times when the greater good is more…"

"Don't say those words," Piper snarled, her face contorted with rage. "Don't ever say those words! Bastard!" She lifted her hands, preparing to blow up the Elder.

But Kyle got in the way. He stepped in front of Piper and placed his own hands over her wrists, staying her attack. "Piper, listen to me. What Gideon did, trying to kill Wyatt, that was wrong. There was no basis for it, no reason for it. But this is different. You have to understand that. You have to see that if you stay here, you could end up getting us all killed."

"If I leave, my entire family could die."

"We aren't your family," a voice said, and all eyes turned towards the stairs where Melinda had appeared. "Your family is in a different timeline, and they are the ones who need you now."

"Melinda…" Piper began, unsure what she could say to the child that she no longer had.

"Kyle's right," Melinda continued, her gaze traveling down to the floor as she forced out the words. "You blew up Gideon, you let your anger run away with you, and you exposed us all. My mother would never have done that, no matter what Gideon had done to her, because she would understand the risks and the consequences, especially since Courtney was in the house. She's the one we need right now, not you, and we can't get her back until you leave."

"I can't just walk away," Piper murmured. "I don't know how."

"You don't have a choice," Kyle interjected. "None of us do."

Piper bit her lip and turned away, her thoughts in turmoil. Running a hand through her long hair, she contemplated her options. She didn't want to leave, but did she have a choice? On the other hand, would she be able to live with herself if she left without at least trying to save Courtney, Melinda, and Penny? Could she really justify staying her and delaying a return to her other family? Could she risk it, with everything the Source was trying to accomplish?

What was she supposed to do?

No matter what, she was abandoning one family in favor of the other.

Could she do that?

Did she have a choice?

Piper glanced up at Melinda, up at the girl who encompassed everything she was internally struggling with. This girl who was her daughter, and yet not. This girl she would never see again if she left. But how could she want to stay here with Melinda is it meant loosing Wyatt and Chris?

Who was more important?

"You aren't leaving us," Melinda whispered. "My mother will take her body again when you leave."

Piper nodded, knowing what she had to do. "Fine. How do I get back?"

* * *

"I'm ready to do this," Prue announced as she walked into the attic, Chris a few steps behind her.

Phoebe and Paige looked over at her, and Wyatt raised an eyebrow in surprise. In her crystal cage, Sarina gave an approving nod. Mel glanced between Chris and Prue, her expression thoughtful. Leo and Kyle exchanged looks and sighed, and Pen looked down at her hands and bit her lip.

There was a pregnant silence.

"Me, too," Pen said at last, and all three girls were in agreement.

Sarina closed her eyes and reached out with her mind, connecting telepathically to Jhorun. It was a gift that few people realized the Khail had, and it was a power that could not be trapped by crystal cages.

_Jhorun._

_Yes?_

_It is time. Prepare the others, I will give you the signal…

* * *

_

Next Chapter: Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire

Due: Friday 3/24


	36. Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's Note: You might want to review the chapter entitled Old Enemies so you know what Sarina and Jhorun did before they contacted the Halliwells. It will make the last part easier to explain. Also, the last section in a bunch of bits and pieces of things that are all happening at the same time, so those brief glimpses are seperated by '&/&/&' instead of the usual long bar.

* * *

Chapter Thirty-Five: Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire

The three of them stood next to the Book, there right hands resting lightly on the cover, each touching a different part of the triqueta. Their eyes closed, they concentrated, listening to the wind rustling the leaves on the trees outside the open window, feeling the stillness of the air inside the room, smelling the dusty scent that lingered in the old attic.

The Book began to glow. It was a soft glow, golden and gentle, and accompanied by a tickling heat. The glow spread slowly up through their fingertips and into the palms of their hands, then into their wrists and along their arms. It flowed like liquid, growing in intensity as it expanded.

Soon they were glowing completely. Wind whipped around them, strong and fierce, tugging at their clothing and blowing strands of dark hair around in a chaotic halo.

And then it stopped.

Prue stepped away from the Book and glanced over at her mother. She licked her dry lips and frowned, tugging her hair back into a ponytail. "I don't feel any different," she commented.

"Neither did we," Phoebe replied. "When we first got out powers…" She shook her head. She didn't feel any different either, but it was still strange to realize that she was no longer Charmed. She had all of her power, but she wasn't…she wasn't the person she had been for so many years. She was just an ordinary witch now.

"I can feel a difference," Sarina said abruptly, causing all eyes to turn towards her. She was still sitting calmly in her crystal cage, and they had forgotten her that she was even present.

Leo looked up from where he had been standing by the door. He nodded slowly at her and said, "I can too. The power…it feels different now."

"Is that an Elder thing?" Paige asked, glancing over at her brother-in-law as she walked towards her daughters.

Leo shrugged. "I guess," he said. He glanced over at Chris and Wyatt, both of whom were hunched over on the sofa. Wyatt was watching his younger cousins in silence, his eyes clearly reflecting his relief that they were one step closer to finding Piper. But there was something in Chris' expression that Leo could not quite place, and as he stared at his younger son, he wondered what it was that could have made those green eyes so lost.

"Can we try the spell?" Wyatt asked impatiently, oblivious to the inner turmoil showing on Chris' face. "I want Mom back."

"We need to do a little bit research," Kyle said. "I am going to check with the Elders again, see what they say about the spell. Maybe if we worked on a potion to accompany it, or perhaps a protection circle of some sort…? I just don't want anything to go wrong."

"But that will take so much time," Wyatt protested.

"And if the spell backfires again and sends Prue, Mel, or Pen into a different place or time, it isn't going to help your mother any," Kyle countered. He glanced over at Leo, who nodded in agreement with the plan, and the two orbed away in a flurry of lights.

"I'll play around with the potions," Paige said quickly. She glanced over at her daughters. "Why don't you two help me?" Mel and Pen nodded, and followed Paige from the room.

"Mom and I can work on the protection circle," Prue decided, but Phoebe shook her head.

"You and Wyatt should work on it, I need to talk to Chris about something." Prue shot her mother a confused look, but Phoebe shook her head again, signaling that she was not going to say anything else. Prue shrugged, and she and Wyatt left the room.

Phoebe walked over to Chris and sat down next to him. "So, let me guess…" she said, giving him a thoughtful glance. "Mel, Pen, and Prue have no inherited the Power of Three, fulfilling their Charmed Destiny, and with Wyatt as the Twice Blessed, you are feeling left out because you are the only one without a special prophecy."

Chris gave her an incredulous glance. "How…?"

"Hey, I may not have my powers back, but I can still read you like an open book," Phoebe replied with a sad smile.

"No," Chris murmured, more to himself than to her, "no, you really can't."

Phoebe sighed, realizing the truth in his words. How many secrets had he kept from them lately? How many things did he simply not reveal? His relationship with Bianca was obviously the most significant of the bunch, but still…

So many half-truths.

"Well, I can read you now," Phoebe replied.

Chris laughed and stood up. "Are you going to give me words of wisdom?" he asked sarcastically.

"You are important, Chris. Even if you aren't prophesized. You saved the entire world. How many people can say that? How many people can say that they risked everything for their family," Phoebe asked rhetorically.

"Phoebe! Do you know where Piper keeps the mandrake root?" Paige's voice floated up the stairs.

Phoebe turned and glanced towards the doorway, then back at Chris. "I'll be right back," she promised, getting to her feet. "This conversation isn't over yet."

Chris watched her go for a moment, then shook his head and walked over to the Book of Shadows.

"It doesn't help, does it?"

Chris glanced over at Sarina in surprise, raising his eyebrows. "What doesn't help?" he asked, wondering as he did so why he was engaging in conversation with a demon.

"Having them tell you that you are wonderful and that they love you just the way you are," Sarina sneered with a smirk. "It doesn't make you feel any better because they are supposed to say that." She grinned wickedly through the crystal cage.

"No," Chris agreed. "It really doesn't."

"Although you must have some redeeming qualities if you got a Phoenix assassin to fall in love with you," Sarina mused.

"Yeah," Chris agreed, smiling softly as he thought of Bianca. "I don't know why she…" He stopped suddenly and glanced at Sarina. "How do you know about that?" he asked suspiciously.

"I've been watching you guys ever since I realized the Source was up to something," Sarina answered honestly. "I wanted to see if you were worth joining forces with."

Chris rolled his eyes. "So you were spying on us? Oh, that makes me trust you," he shot back sarcastically.

"You know, in the time of Salem and the witch hunts, the Phoenixes would marry into powerfully magical families, generally the families of their targets, and then wait until they were pregnant before murdering their husbands," Sarina remarked casually. "That way their children how powerful magic in their blood, and they got to collect their fee."

"Fascinating," Chris deadpanned.

"All I am saying is that…"

"You don't like Bianca," Chris cut in smoothly. "Just like everybody else in my family. Now not only do my parents disapprove of the woman I love, but our demon guest does as well. Great. Just great." He rolled his eyes again.

"Actually, I was going to say that is she really is in love with you, then you are obviously something special." Sarina eyed Chris for a moment, then sighed, "But I suppose my opinion doesn't matter that much to you, does it?" She pouted her lips and batted her eyelashes at him.

"Are you flirting with me?" Chris asked incredulously.

Sarina laughed. "No, you aren't really my type."

"And what is your type?" Chris shot back, grinning despite himself. "Evil?"

"Or, at least, tainted," Sarina replied. "You're just too damn pure." She shook her head in disgust and settled herself into a more comfortable position on the floor. "A decade of your brother trying to turn you, and you resisted that. It's a pity, I bet you would have looked hot as an evil overlord."

"That wasn't me," Chris replied. "At least, not this version of me."

Sarina shrugged. "Every version of you is the same," she countered. "Who you are, fundamentally, does not change."

"You sound like my father and Uncle Kyle," Chris remarked, raising an eyebrow. "They both said the exact same thing."

"Are you comparing me to an Elder and a white-lighter?" Sarina asked, aghast. She shook her head, smooth dark strands of hair falling in front of glittering eyes. "I don't spout platitudes."

Chris laughed, then frowned and looked away. He was enjoying talking to this demon, and that made him feel…guilty. She wasn't trustworthy, he should not be making small talk with her. He should be ignoring her or at least regarding her with suspicion like the rest of the family did.

"It's alright," Sarina said quietly. Chris turned to look at her sharply, and she flashed him a smile. "It's alright that you are talking to me when you should be trying to vanquish me. You aren't the first guy too make a fool of himself over a pretty girl."

"I don't think you are the pretty girl he plans to make a fool of himself over," a voice said dryly, and Chris turned to see Wyatt standing in the doorway. "We need you downstairs," Wyatt continued, glancing over at Chris.

Chris flushed and nodded, following his brother out the door. As they disappeared down the stairs, Sarina distinctly heard Wyatt mutter, "What are you doing, chatting with a demon? Are you insane?"

Sarina almost laughed.

_Now, Sarina?_ Jhorun's telepathic question echoed in her head.

_No, not yet. Wait until they call for the third sister. They will be caught up in a powerful spell. They will be vulnerable._

And as she sent the message out, she thought of Chris, of the loyalty this family had to each other, of the tight bond between siblings evident, and almost felt guilty.

Almost.

* * *

"Kyle? Can I ask you a question?" Piper asked, walking into the sunroom. 

Kyle looked up from where he was sitting, flipping through books on time and space travel, and nodded. "Of course," he replied easily.

"If the Source is going to end everything by creating links of fate, could I slow him down by destroying those links?" Piper questioned, taking a seat next to Kyle and glancing at the books he was reading.

"How do you propose to do that?" the white-lighter asked, raising his eyebrows. He narrowed his eyes, and continued, "I thought you were focusing on getting home."

"I am," Piper replied. "But this might be too good of an opportunity to pass up." She licked her lips and elaborated, "I've been thinking about it, and it might work. I mean, if I can remember things that happened, or will happen, in this timeline and in my timeline, and change them…"

"You can't time travel, Piper, so you can't change the past. You can't change the future because you don't know what will happen in the future. And the present…well, the present is only a split second in time, hardly enough to do anything with," Kyle countered.

Piper frowned. "There has to be something I can do here," she murmured. "There has to be a reason."

"A reason for what?" Kyle put the books down and gave Piper his full attention.

"For why I am here," Piper explained. "There has to be a reason. I don't believe in coincidences anymore, so why was I thrown into an alternate timeline at the exact same time that the Source is trying to use all the timelines to destroy us all?" She ran a hand through her hair, worried and confused. "What is the reason?"

"Maybe it wasn't something you were supposed to do," Kyle suggested, contemplating Piper's question. "Maybe it was something you were supposed to learn."

"Such as…?" Piper prompted.

Kyle shrugged. "I have no idea," he replied. He turned back to his books. "We need to focus on getting you home. Whatever you were supposed to do or learn, maybe we will figure it out along the way."

* * *

"_You know, you really shouldn't orb anymore. It could kill you." _

"_Isn't that what you want?" _

"_If that's what I wanted, you'd already be dead."_

Bianca glanced over at Courtney, shaking her head to clear the strange memories that were suddenly playing through her mind. The human girl was terrified out of her mind, but she regarded Bianca with a cool exterior. She refused to show that fear, although her voice trembled as she spoke.

"What are you going to do with me?"

"Trust me," Bianca replied somberly, "you don't want to know."

"Wait, let me guess," Courtney replied cockily. "You are going to torture me to death and then throw my body into the sea where no one will ever find it?"

Bianca said nothing.

"Because that would be pathetically unoriginal," Courtney continued. "Really, I would go with something that has a bit more flair."

"I'm not going to do anything to you," Bianca murmured wearily. "You aren't the victim, you're just the bait."

"For who?" Courtney demanded.

"Your darling witch friends," Bianca replied coolly. She walked over to the window and stared out at the sky, pressing her head against the cool glass. She closed her eyes briefly, and another memory came to mind. It was a set of feelings rather than thoughts, and they slipped away almost as soon as they had come, evading her grasp. But she had felt fear, overwhelming fear, before it died into emptiness.

"…the Halliwells?" Courtney was saying. "What makes you think they'll come after me?" She regarded her kidnapper with interest, wondering what it was she would say.

But Bianca did not reply. The silence dragged out for several minutes, then Bianca felt another memory tug at her conscious.

"_He's gone to a lot of trouble to get you back."_

"_Yeah…I see that." _

"_You know, you don't have to believe me, Chris, but this really is for the best."_

"_Oh really? And how's that?"_

"_Because this is your only chance to live. If I fail, he will just start sending assassins after you, and all they will have to bring home is a body."_

"_It doesn't matter. There's nothing left for me in the future anymore, anyway." _

Bianca turned around and glanced at Courtney. "I don't want to kill you," she said honestly, "but I may not have a choice. So you might want to prepare yourself to die." And she walked out of the room.

In another timeline, the Seer looked at her pool and smiled. If this other assassin was remembering a different life she might have had…

Fate was coming together.

They were almost ready to release the Hollow.

* * *

Prue stared at the potion that Paige was carefully pouring into bottles. Pen and Mel were standing side by side, reading over the spell they were supposed to recite. Phoebe was carefully creating a protective circle, sprinkling lavender and rosemary on the ground. Leo, Wyatt, and Kyle paced back and forth anxiously, while Chris hovered in the background, holding his breath, hoping everything would work. 

Prue, Mel, and Pen stepped into the center of the protective circle, each staring at the spell they were to recite. Prue shifted nervously, her hands shaking as she clenched them into fists at her side, but she gave Pen and Mel a determined stare, and the other two nodded back.

"We call upon the greatest power…"

&/&/&

Piper reached for another book, glancing over at Kyle as she did so. She looked up in time to see the three demons shimmer into the room, energy balls in their hands. Acting on instinct, she threw herself forward, knocking Kyle out of the way and flicking her wrists at the demons as she did so.

"I thought the Source wasn't attacking us!" Piper hissed, crouching behind the sofa.

"I don't think those demons work for the Source," Kyle replied, frowning at the symbols on their shirts. "Those demons are from a clan called the Khail."

"Mom!" Melinda flew down the steps, her hands outstretched, blowing up the demons that were attacking her mother and white-lighter. But more appeared in the room, shimmering in and taking offensive positions.

&/&/&

"…to guide us through time and space…" the three young Halliwells continued. Phoebe continued to toss lavender onto the floor, hoping to reinforce the protection while the cousins recited the spell.

Sarina watched with a smug smile, then closed her eyes and reached out Jhorun.

_Jhorun._

_Yes?_

_It's time._

&/&/&

An energy ball struck Melinda in the chest, and she stumbled down the stairs, collapsing in a heap on the floor. Kyle raced to her side, while Piper, incensed, blew up the surrounding demons. They staggered and fell back, giving her room to maneuver, but the respite was brief. More Khail filled the room, shimmering in until the air was thick with flying energy balls.

Gideon and Penny appeared at that moment, and each began to attack as well, but they were outnumbered.

Too far outnumbered.

Piper pushed her way through the room and dropped down next to Kyle and Melinda. She held her breath as she watched Kyle struggle to heal the girl who could have been her daughter.

&/&/&

"…bring Piper back…"

Chris glanced over at Sarina, and noted that her eyes were closed. Something twisted in his stomach, a feeling he couldn't quite identify, but he suddenly knew that something very bad was about to happen.

The witch-lighter spun around to face his father, but Leo wasn't looking at him. The Elder was concentrating on the cousins reciting the spell, and he did not see the panic in his son's eyes.

Chris shook his head and looked back at Sarina. Her eyes were open again, and she was staring at him quietly, a thin smile on her lips. He shivered and looked away, unnerved.

&/&/&

And Piper felt it. It was a pull on her mind and body, so slight that it was almost unnoticeable. But something was tugging at her, yanking her out of her body, and the world began to revolve in circles around her.

She knew what it was.

Her family was calling her. All she had to do was follow the magic and she could get home to them.

But if she left now…

What if Melinda didn't make it? What if they weren't able to get over to Bianca's in time to save Courtney? Who would protect them all then?

Kyle glanced over at her, and he suddenly knew what was happening. "They're calling you, aren't they?" he whispered.

Piper nodded and blew up an approaching demon. She quickly froze and energy ball, then turned in time to see Penny telekinetically shove a demon across the room and into the wall.

"Go!" Kyle instructed, throwing an athame across the room and vanquishing a demon that was attacking Gideon. He turned and looked back at Melinda. 'Go, save the world," he muttered as he leaned over his wounded charge.

"I can't just leave my daughter!" Piper retorted, shaking her head.

"She isn't you daughter," Kyle snapped back. "And even if she was, we are talking about saving the entire world. One life means nothing in the face of that."

Piper shook her head. "You're wrong," she snarled. "Family means everything."

"No, it doesn't," Kyle countered. "Not in _this _world. Not in a world where innocents die every day. Not when family is what is keeping you from saving those innocents. Not when _everything _is at stake." He glanced over at Piper. "You wanted to know what it was you were supposed to learn by being here? Maybe you were supposed to learn to let go," he murmured, his voice hoarse.

&/&/&

"...to this particular place."

The wind howled suddenly, rushing through the room, and a white light expanded from the center of the circle, blinding everyone in the room. And then the light faded, and Piper was standing in front of the three cousins, looking about in confusion.

And then the Khail appeared.

One of the demons kicked the crystals aside, and Sarina shimmered out of her cage and into the center of the room. She attacked Piper, throwing her to the ground in one smooth movement, and preparing an energy ball.

Chris threw his arm out, telekinetically shoving Sarina away from his mother. Prue ran forward, instantly engaging one of the demons in battle, while Pen and Mel managed to vanquish another one. Leo raised both hands, electricity crackling from his fingertips, and Wyatt summoned Excalibur.

But one of the demons managed to get the better of Prue, throwing her to the ground. She smashed into the chair as she fell, hitting her head on the corner and drawing blood. The demon smirked as he conjured a burst of green light in his hands, then threw it at Prue, striking her in the face. The green light exploded, the was absorbed into her body under her eyelids, and the witch fell into a still heap.

"Prue!" Phoebe was at her daughter's side in a second, and the rest of the family followed, crouching down by the girl.

"Did you know?" Sarina said softly, pulling herself to her feet and creating a force field that protected her and the other Khail demons from the Halliwell family, "that if a demon absorbs powers from a white-lighter, like, say, Aula, they can fool any magical object into thinking they are good? After all, good magic then flows in their veins, and there is no magic purer than that of an actual angel."

"Magic isn't inherently good or evil," Mel hissed from her position at Prue's side.

"Oh, most magic isn't good or evil," Sarina agreed. "But white-lighter powers…those are an exception to the rule. That's why they only work on good witches, and you can't sense of heal evil." She glanced over at Jhorun, then nodded to the Book. "Show them."

And the Halliwells watched helplessly as Jhorum lifted the Book from the podium, and then all the Khail shimmered away.

* * *

Next Chapter: What Dreams May Come 

Due: Wed. 3/29


	37. What Dreams May Come

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: Italics are dreams. The quote at the beginning of the chapter is from Shakespeare's _Hamlet,_ from the 'To be or not to be' speech.

* * *

Chapter Thirty-Six: What Dreams May Come

_For in that sleep of death what dreams may come_  
_ When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,_  
_ Must give us pause._

"_Do you really think this is going to work?" a young Prue asked, holding her teddy bear under one arm and looking around the room. "I mean, Mommy said we shouldn't do magic, and…and we shouldn't. Not in here." She stuck her thumb in her mouth for a moment, looking over at Wyatt._

_Wyatt shook his head and laughed at his baby cousin. "Are you scared?" he taunted._

_Prue, taking her thumb out of her mouth, stuck out her bottom lip and shook her head. "No," she lied, her eyes betraying her fear._

"_Oh, little Prue is scared," Chris laughed, joining his brother and cousin. "She doesn't want to break any of the rules that her Mommy set." _

_Prue stuck her tongue out at Chris. "I hate you," she whimpered, clutching her teddy bear closer to her chest. "And Teddy hates you also."_

_Wyatt used his powers to orb Teddy to him, and grinned. "He seems to like me."_

"_Give him back," Prue cried, jumping to her feet and hurrying over to Wyatt._

_Wyatt through Teddy into the air and Chris lifted a hand, holding the bear telekinetically just beyond Prue's reach. Prue tried in vain to grab the bear, but Chris and Wyatt just laughed._

"_Come on, we'll give him back if you say the spell with us," Wyatt announced._

_Prue bit her lip and shook her head. "No, give him back now or I'm telling my Mommy."_

"_Tattletale," Wyatt goaded._

_Prue's bottom lip began to quiver. "Stop it," she sobbed._

_Wyatt held out the paper where he had sloppily written down the spell. "Come on," he coaxed. "Just say the spell and you'll get Teddy back."_

_Prue nodded, slowly caving. She took the paper in her hands and sniffed once. She stared at the spell, then at Wyatt, and said, "You rhymed 'bus' with 'us?' That's stupid."_

_Wyatt shrugged. "I couldn't think of anything else," he defended himself. "Say the spell if you want Teddy back."_

_The three recited the spell together. "We want cookies, candy and sweets, bring lots and lots of 'em to us, as much as we can eat, as much as would fit on a bus."_

_There was a sudden explosion, and the furniture in the attic flew in all directions, shattering as it hit the walls. But all different types of candies, puddings, cookies, and cakes appeared in the room, so much of it that it spilled from the plates and covered the hardwood floor in a sticky mess._

"_What's happening up there?" a voice called, and then pounding footsteps sounded on the stairs._

_Wyatt laughed and grabbed the Teddy from Chris, throwing it at Prue. Then he and Chris orbed away, leaving Prue in the middle of the destroyed attic, alone to face Piper's and Phoebe's wrath._

"What is happening?" Phoebe asked as she watched her daughter twist and turn, caught in a nightmare. They had moved Prue to the sofa, and both Leo and Kyle had tried healing her, but to no avail. So they had draped a blanket over her, unsure of what else to do.

"The Khail must have done something to her," Chris snapped as he paced the attic in worry. "The green light…I can't believe we actually trusted her."

"And without the Book, how can we find out what that light was?" Pen murmured, watching as beads of sweat formed on her cousin's brow.

"Kyle, check with the Elders," Paige ordered. "Leo, check Magic School. There has to be a way of reversing whatever they did to her."

"Why was there a demon in the house?" Piper asked slowly, looking from her husband to her sisters. "And how did you get me back?" She had not been informed of anything that had happened while she was trapped in another world.

Paige and Phoebe exchanged glances, then Paige said, "Well, to make a long story short, Prue, Mel, and Pen called for the Power of Three, so we are no longer Charmed, and Sarina was supposedly here to help us get you back but she betrayed us and took the Book."

Piper blinked. "Oh…"

"I knew we shouldn't have trusted the Khail," Kyle said angrily, shaking his head as he orbed away to check with the Elders.

Leo watched the white-lighter go, then said, "Call me if you need anything, I'll see what I can find at Magic School," and he too orbed away.

"Khail?" Piper questioned. "Those were the same demons that attacked Kyle and I in the other timeline."

"What?" Paige asked, confused. "What do you mean?"

Piper shook her head and turned back to Prue. "Let's save Prue, then I'll tell you my story and you can explain about the whole 'not being Charmed' thing." She walked over to her niece and bent down next to her. "Maybe if we could get a potion or something…?"

"We have no idea what the green light did to her," Paige replied. "What sort of potion could we make?"

"Do you think it is killing her?" Mel ventured quietly. "I mean, she is obviously in either mental or physical pain," she gestured to Prue's writhing body, "but if it is killing her, we should take her to Magic School. She can't die there, and it would buy us some time while we try to figure out what to do."

"Mel's got a point," Piper agreed. She glanced over at Phoebe. "Should we call Jason?" she asked, voicing the question she knew Phoebe was probably silently thinking about.

Phoebe bit her lip and shook her head. "Not now," she said. "Maybe later, but not…not now." Prue whimpered, and Phoebe glanced down at her sharply. "What are you dreaming?" she whispered.

"_Mommy?" Chris tugged on Piper's arm. "Mommy, it wasn't all her fault," he whispered, glancing over at Prue, who was sitting in the corner, having been put in time-out. "Wyatt and I made her do it. Wyatt wrote the spell, and then he stole Teddy and wouldn't give it back until Prue said the magic with us…"_

_Piper raised an eyebrow and glanced over at Phoebe, who was leaning on the counter drinking a cup of coffee. Then she called out to Prue, "Is this true?"_

_Prue nodded slowly, her tear-stained face still turned to the wall._

_Phoebe sighed and said, "Alright, Prue, you can be done with time-out now." Prue sniffed, and Phoebe continued, "How about we get you some of that ice cream that Aunt Piper always keeps in the freezer?"_

"_But you said I couldn't have any sweets for a week," Prue cried, surprised._

"_Well, you didn't want to conjure the sweets," Phoebe said, reaching for her daughter's hands. "But you should have told me that Wyatt and Chris wanted you to do it." She lifted her daughter up into her arms and walked over to the freezer._

"_I didn't want to be a tattletale," Prue replied, sniffling again._

"_Why did you tell me what you and Wyatt did?" Piper asked Chris, bending down next to him and staring him straight in the eye. "You could have gotten away with it, why did you tell me the truth?"_

"_I didn't want Prue to be in trouble," Chris answered honestly. "She's my family." He paused for a moment, then said, "Besides, you aren't supposed to lie to your Mommy and Daddy."_

_Piper smiled slightly, then said seriously, "Alright, Chris, I want you to go to your room until dinner, alright? No talking to anyone and no orbing or watching television. That was not a very nice thing you and Wyatt did to Prue."_

_Chris nodded and walked out of the room, his head down._

_Piper glanced over at Phoebe and sighed. "I'm going to go have a talk with my other little _angel_," she said wearily._

Phoebe carefully wiped the sweat from Prue's forehead with the corner of the blanket and shot a terrified look at Piper. Piper placed a hand on Phoebe's shoulder, knowing there was nothing she could say, no words of comfort she could give, that would make this easier for Phoebe.

And then Pen broke the tense silence, asking in a quiet voice, "Guys? Where's Wyatt?"

* * *

"Tell me how to find the Khail!" Wyatt spat as he sent another burst of electricity at the fallen demon. The demon moaned in pain and curled tightly into a ball, unable to escape the excruciating agony that coursed through his body at Wyatt's attack. 

"I…don't know…how…" the demon managed to gasp out.

Wyatt stared coldly at the beaten demon and then shook his head in disgust. "Then you are worthless to me," he said. He lifted Excalibur, swung it through the air, and watched impassively as the demon turned to dust.

Then he orbed away, intent on finding another demon.

* * *

"I feel power growing," Nathaniel commented. The Elder was standing on top of the Golden Gate Bridge, talking to Kyle. 

"What sort of power?" Kyle asked quietly.

Nathaniel hesitated, then said, "I am not sure. I believe the Source is close to attaining his goal. We must stop him."

"How? We don't even know how to save Prue," Kyle pointed out.

Nathaniel shrugged. "I don't know," he murmured. "None of us know what is going on right now," he continued, "but I do know that we are running out of time."

"So what do we do?" Kyle asked wearily. They had too many questions with no answers.

"Our only hope of stopping the Source is by preventing him from releasing the Hollow," Nathaniel said decisively. "That is what you must concentrate on." He looked out over the city. "I will talk to the other Elders, see if we can come up with a way of saving your niece. Unfortunately, we know precious little about the Khail."

* * *

"Leo?" Trisha asked, glancing up from the book she was looking through. "Can I ask you a question?" 

"Sure," Leo replied distractedly. There was very little information in Magic School about the Khail and their powers, but he was pouring through every book that so much as mentioned them, trying frantically to find a way to save Prue.

"Let's suppose that you prevent the Source from ending everything. And you send him back to hell. What is to stop him from just trying to end the world some other time? He's already dead, it isn't like we can kill him again. He can wait, biding his time until…until the time is right for another attack. He's got forever on his side."

Leo looked up in surprise, having never considered the possibility before. "I have no idea…" he murmured honestly, struck by the horror of the thought.

Could they ever really stop him?

* * *

Wyatt clenched his hand into a fist, telekinetically strangling the dark-lighter. "Fine," he growled. "If you can't tell me how to find the Khail, then who can?" 

The dark-lighter gasped for breath, shaking his head as his limbs flailed helplessly, suspended in midair. Wyatt was holding his several feel off the ground, and he was unable to dark-orb out.

"Tell me!" Wyatt hissed.

"Sorcerer…" the dark-lighter whispered, his voice rough and hoarse.

"What?" Wyatt demanded. "What do you mean?" He released his hold on the dark-lighter's throat enough so that he could speak more freely.

"Sorcerers can… sense other sorcerers…" the dark-lighter panted. "Another sorcerer might… be able to sense…their High Priestess…"

Wyatt nodded thoughtfully, then waved his hand, and the dark-lighter exploded. "Then I had better find a sorcerer," Wyatt decided icily.

* * *

"_Prue, look out!" Chris screamed, throwing his cousin to the floor with a telekinetic wave of his hand. The energy ball that would have hit her smashed into the wall instead, incinerating the curtains and leaving a dark scorch mark behind._

_Prue scrambled to her feet and called her powers to her, conjuring burning flames in her hands. She extended her palms, sending the fire towards the attacking demons, while Chris frantically scrambled towards her. _

_He was half way to her when one of the demons flicked his wrist and sent a bolt of electricity at Prue. Chris dove forward and in front of Prue, and tThe electricity hit him in the shoulder. He cried out, collapsing to the ground in pain._

"_Chris!" Prue called in a panic, dropping to her cousin's side. She silently thanked God as she saw his chest rise and fall, relieved to find that he was still breathing._

_The demons circled them menacingly, their yellow eyes glowing with triumph. "If you come quietly, Lord Wyatt might spare your lives," one of the demons growled._

_Prue stood, the wind whipping around her and fire dancing on her fingertips. "Over my dead body," she snarled._

"_As you wish," the demon replied._

_Before either could move, however, two of the other demons suddenly burst into flame, howling as they were vanquished. The lead demon spun around to stare at the intruder, and growled in fury and rage._

"_Ria!" Prue cried in relief. "Chris is hurt, get him out of here," she ordered as she quickly engaged in battle against the remaining three demons._

_Ria ran to her cousins side and orbed away with him. Prue vanquished another demon with a well placed burst of fire, but the last two quickly took the upper hand, backing her into a corner. She struggled in vain, but before long they had managed to twist her arms behind her back, effectively preventing her from using her powers against them._

_She was caught._

_Except…_

"_Going somewhere, boys?"_

_The demons spun around in time to see the energy balls flying towards them. The first demon ducked, but the second was not as lucky, and was vanquished immediately. Prue took advantage of the momentary confusion and yanked herself free of the first demon's grip. She conjured the wind, channeling it through her palm and slamming the demon across the room and into the far wall. _

_Then she turned to her savior._

"_Are you out of your mind?" Prue hissed. "What is one of the demons had escaped and reported back to Wyatt? He would have known you don't work for him anymore, and the Resistance would have lost a spy."_

"_And if Wyatt had captured you, Chris would have fallen apart, and the Resistance would have lost its leader," Bianca replied, carelessly tossing an energy ball at the final demon and vanquishing him while he lay stunned by the wall. _

"_I was fine," Prue retorted._

_Bianca gave a laugh. "You were caught. Admit it, Prue, you weren't strong enough to take on those demons by yourself. _I_ saved you."_

_Prue huffed. "Well you don't have to gloat," she admonished._

_Bianca just laughed, grabbed Prue's arm, and shimmered the two of them away._

"I can't sense him," Chris said worriedly, glancing over at his mother. "I can't sense Wyatt anywhere."

"Maybe he is in the Underworld," Pen suggested as she too closed her eyes and tried to sense for her oldest cousin.

"Why would he be in the Underworld?" Chris questioned, throwing a confused glance at Pen. "Why wouldn't he be here with us? With Prue?"

Some mother's instinct kicked in, and Piper suddenly knew exactly where her Twice Blessed son was. "The warlock…Latere…oh, God," she breathed. The ruthless qualities in Wyatt, the ones she had seen when he had attacked Latere, the ones she never wanted to see again…

"Mom?" Chris questioned.

"He's looking for the Khail," Piper said simply, knowing she was right.

"No…" Prue moaned suddenly, and all eyes swung back to her.

"_Prue, what are you doing?" Chris asked in confusion, looking around the darkened room._

"_I'm thinking," Prue replied calmly, leaning over the table of maps._

"_About what?" Chris asked, walking into the room. "And why haven't you turned on the lights?"_

"_Power supply is low," Prue replied. "I don't want to waste our resources, we've got precious little of them as it is, and the base has to hold us for a while."_

_Chris nodded slowly. "Alright, so what are you thinking about?"_

_Prue pointed to a spot on the foremost map, one that showed the city of San Francisco and a few surrounding suburbs. "We can't hold Sector C-4 forever. It requires too much effort. But if we let it go, if we switch our resources, we might be able to shield Sector A-1 and F-5 better."_

"_C-4 has safe-houses for the elderly and children," Chris pointed out. "If we abandon it, everyone will die."_

"_We can move them somewhere else," Prue countered. "But look how far away C-4 is from everything else. It is practically on the other side of the city. We can't keep transporting all our resources out there, it takes too much time."_

"_It is over there because we wanted to keep the elderly and children away from all of the fighting," Chris replied. _

"_And the more effort we put into protecting them, the less we put into protecting those who are actually fighting. And then they die, and we lose soldiers."_

"_You would have me trade one for the other?" Chris questioned, not entirely sure he liked where this conversation was going._

"_It isn't as though we are killing them all," Prue sighed. "We are just putting them into a bit more danger by moving them closer, but we are also giving our soldiers, those who can actually do good for this world, a bit more protection."_

_Chris bit his lip. "I don't like it."_

_Prue shrugged. "You can't save everyone, Chris."_

Bright orbs lit up the attic, and Leo appeared, holding a book in his hand. He was speaking before he had even fully materialized, addressing Phoebe with concern and hope. "I know what the Khail did. I don't know how to stop it, but I know what the green light does."

"What?" Phoebe demanded instantly, jumping to her feet.

Leo held out a book to Phoebe, pointing to the proper paragraph as he explained, "It gets into its victims minds and drives them crazy. Either by forcing them to relive memories they want to forget, or by sending them nightmares, or by playing on their innermost fears. It's like a combination of the dream sorcerer, the sandman, and Barbas."

"I'm sorry…" Prue whispered.

_Chris struggled against the demons that held him tightly in their grip. Wyatt was standing in front of him, smirking, his blue eyes cold and callous. To his right, Prue shivered, but did not take her eyes from her older cousin's heartbroken expression._

"_Why?" Chris whispered, his voice soft and hoarse. "Why, Prue?"_

"_She valued her life more than yours," Wyatt laughed. He glanced over at Prue and nodded. "You kept your end of the deal, Prue, and I'll keep mine. You are free to run back to your little Resistance."_

_Prue looked at Chris for a moment, then stepped forward so that she was standing directly between Chris and Wyatt. She lowered her voice and whispered, "I have power, Chris, and you don't. I can do more good than you can… Don't you understand that? I can save more lives, more innocents…"_

"_I'm your family," Chris coughed, spitting blood from his mouth. "I'm your _family_."_

_Prue nodded. "I know, but that isn't always enough." She glanced over at Wyatt, then turned and walked from the room, and didn't look back._

"Okay, so all we have to do is figure out a way to wake her up," Phoebe said slowly, looking at the book and knowing it was much easier said than done.

"Alright, well I will start working on a spell of some sort," Piper said, standing up. "Paige, why don't you and Mel work on a potion, and Pen can help me with the spell." She glanced over at Leo. "And you need to start sensing for your older son."

Leo looked around in confusion. "What's wrong with Wyatt?" he asked anxiously. "Where is he?"

Piper opened her mouth to answer, but Prue began to cry in earnest, tears slipping out from under her closed eyelids.

"_You what?"_

_If Prue hadn't known that Ria would never hurt her, she would have been cringing in fear. The young witch-lighter was fuming, her eyes dark with disbelief and fury._

"_I did what I had to do for the good of this world," Prue snarled. "I'm trying to save us all." She shook her head, frustrated that Ria did not understand._

_Adam stood next to his sister, staring quietly at Prue. He said nothing, but his eyes held disappointment and…was it fear?_

"_Chris is our family. Your family!" Ria said softly. "How could you do this to him? How could you sell him out?"_

"_Because I am trying to save the world. Why can't you understand that?" Prue shot back, flushed with anger._

"_At the expense of your family?" Adam asked softly. "You would trade out your family for that?" He crossed his arms over his chest and glared openly at her._

"_You're doing the same," Prue countered._

"_What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Ria asked harshly, her patience wearing thin._

"_It means," Prue said softly, "that if you can't save Wyatt, we both know you intend on stopping him, no matter what it takes. And isn't he family as well?" There was a deadly accuracy in her words, a truth that neither Ria nor Adam could deny._

And Prue screamed._

* * *

_

Next Chapter: Race Against Time

Due: Sun 4/2


	38. Race Against Time

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's Note: Sorry about the lateness of this update and the lack of replies to reviews. Things have been a little crazy for me lately, and although I am trying to keep to a schedule, that doesn't always happen. This chapter is also a bit longer than the previous ones, so that contributed to the lateness of the update. _Italics _are dreams, and David and Lila aren't really important to the story, so don't bother remembering who they are. They're just memebers of the Resistance and Chris' friends in the evil future. The lyrics at the beginning are from '_Running Out of Days_' by 3 Doors Down.

* * *

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Race Against Time

_Well all these little things in life they all create this haze   
And now I'm running out of time I can't see through this haze   
My friend tell me why it has to be this way   
There's too many things to get done, and I'm running out of days _

Phoebe frowned as she stared at the books scattered across the table. She pushed her short hair away from her face and reached for the first one, running her finger along the spine and staring at the gold letters embossed on the dusty cover. The letters spelled Khail, and it was the only book in the entire Magic School Library that was devoted to this dangerous clan.

"How can there be so little information on demons as dangerous as the Khail?" Phoebe murmured, opening the book to the first yellowed page and shaking her head in frustration.

Leo grabbed one of the other books and opened it. The book was on dreams and nightmares, and offered a few promising paragraphs about how to rescue those caught in a dream-world. However, he had been unable to apply any of the theories to this particular scenario, and they were running out of time.

Kyle had orbed in moments before and taken Prue to Magic School, which would at least buy them some time. However, they couldn't keep her there indefinitely, especially not with the Source and the Seer still out there.

Piper was frantically scrying for her eldest son, while Chris tried to reach out to Wyatt through their link as brothers. Paige and Mel were downstairs, working on a vanquishing potion for the Khail, while Mel helped sift through the books from Magic School.

"The Khail know how to cover their tracks," Leo explained. "They've had to, ever since the Source cast them out of the Underworld."

"For some horrible crime that no one knows anything about," Phoebe muttered. "What good are the Elders if they can't tell us anything?"

"They're working on it," Leo replied with s sigh. "But even they can't create miracles."

Phoebe nodded and stared at the picture on the first page. It was a detailed depiction of Sarina. She was smirking out at them, black hair falling over tan skin, red eyes sparkling with malicious laughter. Underneath her picture were the words 'Sarina; High Priestess of the Khail. Powers unknown.'

Phoebe flipped the page. Black calligraphy sprawled across the page, but the sentences were not enlightening. In fact, they said very little other than the fact that the Khail were very dangerous and little was known about them.

Phoebe groaned and slammed the book shut. "Did they have to write an entire book to tell us that they don't know anything?"

Leo looked up from his own book. "There may be something in there, Phoebe," he admonished softly. "We just have to read through the entire thing."

"We don't have time to read everything," Phoebe snapped back. "Prue doesn't have the time!"

"She's at Magic School, Aunt Phoebe," Pen pointed out sensibly. "She can't die there."

Phoebe nodded, attempting to reign her temper back under control, and turned back to the book. Leo sighed and ran a hand through his hair, then turned to Piper and asked, "Anything?"

"No," Piper said tersely.

Leo turned to Chris. "Chris?"

Chris opened his eyes and shook his head at his father. "Nothing, Dad," he replied heavily.

"Well, assuming that Wyatt is going after the Khail, if we can find the Khail, we can find him," Pen suggested, glancing from Chris to Piper.

"We have no idea how to find the Khail, and neither does he," Leo answered. He walked over to the sofa and sunk into it, staring blankly around the attic. "And I'm more worried about him getting hurt trying to find the Khail, not once he's found them."

Chris paused at his father's comment and shook his head. "So then, maybe we are going about this wrong," he mused.

Piper and Leo turned to him sharply. "What do you mean?"

"Wyatt doesn't know where the Khail are, but he must think he can find them, or he would have come back by now. So how is he planning on finding them?" Chris questioned, glancing from one parent to the other. Piper and Leo shook their heads wordlessly, and Chris continued, "Demons. He must be going to demon informants. That's the only reason he would still be in the Underworld."

"How do you know that he is in the Underworld?" Pen countered. "He could be anywhere."

"If he was somewhere else, Leo and Chris would be able to get some kind of reading on him, even if they couldn't figure out his location," Piper explained. She dropped the scrying crystal on the table and rested her palms on the map. Looking at her younger son, she asked, "So what if he is using demon informants? How does that help us?"

"We can track him that way," Chris replied simply. "Find who he has been talking to, and figure out what they told him. Eventually we should be able to catch up with him."

"Alright, so Leo and I can go to the Underworld…" Piper began, but Chris cut her off. "Actually, I think Dad should stay here and keep trying to sense for Wyatt in case he comes top side."

"But your mother will need someone to orb her around the Underworld," Leo pointed out, narrowing his eyes as he realized what Chris was suggesting. "No, Chris. It's too dangerous for you to go. What if we end up facing the Khail?"

"Mom's not Charmed anymore, Dad," Chris shrugged. "It's dangerous for her too, but she's going. Besides, who better to bring Wyatt back from his craziness than the brother who's saved him once before? I _can_ help."

"I don't know, Chris. I agree with your father on this one," Piper objected. "We don't know what we are up against, and I don't want to send you blindly into danger."

Chris gave a short, ironic laugh. "You can't protect me forever, Mom."

Phoebe and Pen both looked up from their reading, their eyes trained solely on Piper as she stared silently at her son. Indecision played across her face, revealing her inner struggle. Part of her wanted to protect her son, but part of her knew that he was right, she _couldn't_ protect him forever. She bit her lip, remembering the other timeline's Kyle, remembering his last words.

_You wanted to know what it was you were supposed to learn by being here? Maybe you were supposed to learn to let go._

"Fine," Piper relented reluctantly. "But only if you promise to be careful." She reached out her hand, expecting Chris to take it and orb them away.

Chris stared at his mother for a moment, completely thrown by the fact that she had actually accepted his offer to help. He reached out hesitantly, wrapping his fingers around her own, and orbing the two of them out of the room.

Leo stared at the place that his wife and son had stood, anxiety reflected in his eyes.

"They'll be okay," Phoebe said confidently, turning back to her book. "This Chris has bits and pieces of the other one in him. He's resourceful, and smart, he can take care of himself, and he's independent, Leo, no matter how much you want him to still be your little boy."

"I know," Leo replied. "But it doesn't mean I have to like it."

Phoebe nodded. "Yeah, I know."

Leo grabbed a book from the table and started reading again. Pen hunched next to him peering at the words over his shoulder. Phoebe began to pace as she read, until the action made her dizzy and forced her to sit down again. Minutes passed in silence, until Phoebe suddenly couldn't stand it anymore.

"I can't do this!" Phoebe cried, slamming the book onto the table. "There isn't anything here! There isn't anything to help Prue!"

"Phoebe, calm down…"

"Don't tell me to calm down while my only daughter is dying!" Phoebe hissed at the Elder. "Don't tell me to remain calm while I stand by completely unable to do _anything_ to save Prue."

"Aunt Phoebe," Pen piped up, "Uncle Leo is right. We can save Prue, but we can't do it if you are panicking."

"I don't have powers," Phoebe snapped, too upset to realize that she was yelling at her young niece. "Wyatt is missing, Piper and Chris are gone, and nobody knows anything about this weird magic that is currently killing my daughter!"

"What?"

One sharp word caused the three people in the room to turn and stare at the door. Jason was standing there, leaning against the doorframe, his face white, his mouth open, his eyes wide.

* * *

"Okay, so we are in a big dark cave," Piper commented dryly, looking around. "Any idea if Wyatt has been here?" 

Chris closed his eyes for a moment, reaching out with his senses, then shook his head and sighed. "I can't sense him, but that doesn't mean he hasn't been here." Chris started to pace back and forth across the floor of the cave. "Alright, if you were Wyatt, and you were trying to hunt down the Khail, where would you start?"

"Random demons?" Piper suggested, but immediately shook her head. "No, not if it was Wyatt. He might try that at first, but if that didn't work out, then he would try to come up with a plan."

"What do we know about the Khail?" Chris muttered, shaking his head.

"We know that they stole the Book of Shadows and tried to kill Prue," Piper replied, "but I don't know how either of those would help us."

"They were kicked out of the Underworld, which means that they must have made some serious enemies," Chris said thoughtfully. "Demons and warlocks who would be willing to sell them out."

"But if the Khail are truly as powerful and cunning as everyone seems to think, then they would make sure none of their enemies knew how to find them. If Wyatt is tracking them, he has to be talking to their friends."

"Do they have any friends? Other than themselves, I mean?" Chris wondered out loud.

Piper shrugged. "I'm not sure. They must be friendly with demons and warlocks that are also enemies of the Source. You know, the whole, 'an enemy of my enemy is my friend' thing." She began to pace, trying to come up with a plausible course of action.

"Do you think they had help in attacking us?" Chris questioned.

Piper paused and shrugged. "It's a possibility, although they might have done it by themselves. They are certainly clever enough to…"

"Wait," Chris interrupted suddenly, turning to look at Piper. "The Khail took the Book. To take the Book, they needed a white-lighter's powers. So how did they find that white-lighter?"

"Maybe they killed a witch," Piper suggested. "Or, at least, injured one badly enough so that the white-lighter would come and try to heal him or her." She thought about that for a moment, then shook her head and rejected the idea. "No, if a witch had been killed, the Elders would have sensed something, and would have told Leo when he went to talk to them."

"So then what? They sensed for a white-lighter?" Chris asked. "Can demons even sense white-lighters?"

Piper shook her head. "No. I mean, they can sense when a white-lighter is in the room, but they can't locate one the way white-lighters can sense for their charges." She thought about this for a moment, then looked up at Chris, realization dawning. "But dark-lighters can."

Chris grabbed his mother's arm. "Then let's find a dark-lighter," he said grimly, and orbed them away.

* * *

Paige added the black poppy to the potion and watched with satisfaction as it bubbled strongly. Next, she grabbed the crushed Murdock root, carefully pouring out a single spoonful. The potion began to froth, the liquid turning a dark red. 

"So…what exactly is this potion supposed to do?" Mel asked as she leaned against the counter and watched her mother work.

"I'm not sure," Paige replied. "I'm just letting my instincts guide me."

Mel shook her head, unsure. "I don't think I could ever do that," she said slowly, licking her dry lips and sorting through the bottles of potions' ingredients that covered the counter.

"Do what?" Paige asked, glancing up from her potion, confusion on her face.

Mel turned to her mother. "Just work on instinct. You're making a potion without any idea of what it is supposed to do or if it is going to work. I don't think I could do that…"

"I've had years of practice," Paige pointed out. "After a while, you know what to do, even when you don't know why you are doing it." It was a trait that both she and Piper shared, and ability to create potions without really knowing what the potion was going to do. Phoebe may have been the spell writer in the family, but she didn't hold a candle to her sisters when it came to potions.

Mel nodded slowly, accepting the explanation. Then she asked, "Do you wish that you were still Charmed?"

Paige hesitated, then lifted a spoon from the table and began to mix the potion. As the ingredients swirled together, the liquid faded in color until it was a pale pink. Paige stared at the potion for a moment, her face contemplative, then she answered the question slowly, picking her words carefully.

"It is going to be an adjustment, not being Charmed anymore," Paige said. "And it is… strange to have lost a part of me…but I don't think I will miss it." She turned to her daughter, facing the other witch seriously. "Mel, being Charmed will become more than just a responsibility. It will become a part of who you are, and no matter how hard you try to escape it, it will always be there. And everything else in your life will become…second place."

Mel swallowed and glanced at the potion. It was yellow now, and boiling.

"I'm not saying this to scare you, or to make you wish that you hadn't taken the Power of Three," Paige continued, "but you have to know what you are getting yourself into. You have to be prepared. Your aunts and I weren't, and it cost us dearly."

"You mean with Aunt Prue's death?" Mel asked, reaching for a container of ground ginger. She held it in her hand, staring at the tiny brown particles, attempting not to meet her mother's piercing gaze.

"Yes," Paige murmured, leaning on the counter. "And Cole. Glen. Daryl. Richard." She closed her eyes for a moment, then said in a low voice, "You lose a lot of people that you love. Some die, some simply fade away. I never have time for my friends anymore."

"Well, that's something that can change now that you aren't Charmed," Mel said, placing the ground ginger back on the counter. She fumbled with another jar, reading the label and wincing. Fairy wings.

Paige laughed. "Mel, just because the three of you are now the Charmed Ones doesn't mean that we are going to walk away and let you take care of everything. You're still too young. You're in _middle school_."

Mel nodded. "Well, that's good. I don't think we can do this on our own." She paused, looking at another bottle. The contents was a dark blue liquid, so dark it was almost black. It was thick and viscous, and clung to the glass wall of the bottle as Mel shook it. It wasn't labeled. "Honestly," the young witch-lighter remarked, "I haven't wrapped my head around the fact that I am Charmed."

Paige laughed. "Neither have I," she admitted.

"It's kind of overwhelming." Mel opened the bottle with the strange liquid and added a few drops to the potion. "I mean, the library at Magic School is filled with books about the three of you. How are we supposed to live up to that?" She corked the bottle and took the spoon from her mother, stirring the potion twice and watching as the liquid turned red again. "That's what Pen is afraid of. Not being good enough."

"Why did you do that?" Paige asked quietly.

Mel looked up at her mother in surprise. "Do what?" she asked, shaking her head in bewilderment.

Paige gestured to the potion. "Why did you just add that liquid and stir the potion?"

Mel frowned and glanced at the bottle. "I'm not sure," she said hesitantly. She picked up the bottle. "It doesn't even have a label, I don't know what it is. I just… I don't know why I added it. It just seemed right." She looked at Paige, her eyes wide.

Paige gave her daughter a smile. "Looks like the potion-maker gene might have been passed down to you after all," she said gently.

* * *

"_Spread out," Chris ordered quietly, his eyes scanning the destroyed building. "Search for survivors, but keep your eyes open for spies. This could be one of Wyatt's traps."_

_Prue nodded and slipped into the shadows, picking her way through fragments of burnt furniture and shards of glass. Adam broke off in the other direction, making his way towards the staircase that lead to the second floor of the shopping complex. Lila and David walked straight through the main doors in front of them, eyes constantly traveling over everything._

_Prue paused at the side door, turning and looking back at the rest of the scouting party. It had been years since the group had come together, first as a few witches and white-lighters trying to escape the growing darkness, and then later as a organized resistance against Wyatt and his demons. They had been through a lot, and it showed on their faces and in their eyes. they were tired._

_Prue sighed and quickly pushed the door open and stepped through. She was in a narrow hallway that lead towards a circular staircase. The hallway had been used more bringing merchandise in and out of the mall, but that was when there were still malls in the city. When there were still people in the city who wanted to go shopping._

_Things were different now. The building still served as a mall, but few people went. Few people dared to venture out of their homes, and if they did, they only came out during the daylight hours. They learned to travel in groups, and to stay away from the shadows._

_Prue climbed onto the stairs, slowly ascending towards the second floor. She held her breath as she walked, listening to every sound. But even with every sense acutely aware of her surroundings, she still failed to hear the sound until it was too late._

_The creak of a footstep on the stair below her caused her to spin around, but she wasn't fast enough, and as she faced her stalker, she felt the cold metal of an athame pressed hard against her throat._

"_You really should learn to pay more attention," the strange woman remarked casually._

_Prue narrowed her eyes at the other woman. "Who are you and what do you want?" she demanded harshly._

_The athame pressed even harder against her throat. "Now, you really aren't in the position to be asking questions, are you?" the woman replied, her voice mocking. _

_Prue swallowed. "Well? Kill me already and get it over with."_

_The woman laughed. "If I wanted to kill you, you'd already be dead," she replied. _

"_Then what do you want?" Prue snapped._

"_Patience, patience," the woman admonished. "Good things come to those who wait."_

"_Not in this world," Prue spat. _

_The woman flashed a chilling smile. "Your cousin…Chris, I believe?...is about to walk into a trap. There a several demons downstairs, all invisible, and all waiting to capture him and take him back to his brother. They are waiting until they think that you have gone upstairs, where you will be too far away to hear them when they fight."_

"_Why are you telling me this?" Prue asked, panic rising in her chest at the thought of Chris being captured. She stepped back from the athame, and, to her surprise, the other woman made no move to follow her._

"_I thought you might want to know," the woman replied. She placed the athame in the back pocket of her dark jeans and flipped her dark brown hair over one shoulder. Her hypnotic brown eyes focused on Prue with burning intensity. "You asked me what I want. I want a way out of this life, and you and your family might be my escape."_

"_Why should we help you?" Prue asked quietly._

_The woman smiled smugly. "Because you can't win this on your own." _

"_Do you have a name?" Prue asked, intrigued despite herself. _

"_Bianca." Without another word, Bianca shimmered away, and Prue was left standing on the staircase, staring into emptiness._

_A shout from downstairs caused her to turn and race back down the steps, throw the door open and sprint towards the demons attacking her cousin. As she threw herself into the fray, as she vanquished one demon and then another, she couldn't help but wonder if they would see this stranger… this Bianca…again._

Prue groaned and rolled to one side, curling into the fetal position. Nathaniel and Kyle watched in silence, unable to help the wounded witch.

Nathanial sighed and turned to Kyle. "Her spirit is fading, Kyle. Even in Magic School, the evil eats away at her."

"How is that possible?" Kyle asked, confused. "She can't die here, she should be safe."

Nathaniel shook his head. "The magic of Magic School projects only her physical self. Her body can't die, but her mind…this magic could destroy her mind. If we cannot find a cure, and soon, then her body may live, but…" He shrugged helplessly. "I'm sorry."

"How much longer do you think we have?" Kyle murmured.

"I don't know," Nathaniel replied honestly. "But not long."

"_You agreed to work with her?" Prue practically screamed, unable to comprehend what her cousin had been thinking. "You agreed to work with a Phoenix? An assassin witch? Are you out of your mind? What the hell is wrong with you?"_

"_She saved my life in the mall," Chris pointed out reasonably. "She's brought us information on numerous occasions. She helped us locate the hostages that Wyatt took last month. And all a great personal risk to herself."_

_Prue shook her head. "She's done a lot of good for us, I don't deny that," she agreed reluctantly. "But she is an assassin. How can we trust that this isn't all part of some master plan? How do we know that she isn't a double agent? That Wyatt didn't send her after us?"_

"_I agree with Prue," Lila cut in. "She may have helped us in the past, but that doesn't mean she is going to help us now. She's too secretive, she doesn't tell us how she gets her information. And I still don't trust her motives."_

"_Innocent until proven guilty," Chris retorted._

"_Don't you think working as an assassin for Wyatt has proven her guilty already?" Prue pointed out acidly._

"_She betrayed him," Chris shot back. "Doesn't that prove her innocent."_

"_We only have her word that she actually betrayed him," David said, trying to act as the voice of reason._

_Chris sighed and ran a hand through his hair, then took a shaky breath. "Look, I get what you guys are saying. And if she does betray us, I will vanquish her myself. But right now, we have too few friends, too many enemies, and too little time to be turning our backs on someone who may be an asset." He glanced at the other three, fixing them with a piercing stare. "For now, we trust her. End of discussion." He turned and walked forcefully away._

_David smirked. "Three guesses what that boy is thinking with," he muttered, watching the witch-lighter storm away._

_Prue shot David an annoyed look while Lila added, "Well, it certainly isn't his head."

* * *

_

Sarina watched as Jhorun flipped through the pages of the Book. She could feel the power radiating off of it, and it filled her with wild anticipation. It was the most powerful book in the world, and it would help her finally defeat the Source.

The Khail stood in a circle around the High Priestess at her Second-in-Command. They were anxious as well, each had a personal score with the Source. Centuries of exile had made them bitter and cruel, but it had made them stronger as well. And soon the Source would feel that power, and he would regret having cast them out.

The cave was dark. The only light came from the torches on the wall, which flickered with an unearthly flame. Shadows danced around the demon clan, casting a golden glow over them all.

Sarina looked up abruptly, turning towards the entrance to the cave. She waved her hand, signaling for the other demons to step aside, and the hastened to obey. All eyes turned to the entrance, each wondering what it was Sarina sensed.

He walked through the door and into the room as though he owned the place. The long sword dangled from one hand, glittering and deadly. Sky blue eyes crackled with ferocity and rage. The Khail shrunk back, awed by the amount of power radiating from this one being, but Sarina stepped forward, cool and unafraid.

"I didn't think you would be able to find us quite so quickly," Sarina murmured icily.

"Then you underestimated me," the man ground out.

Sarina flashed him a chilling smile. "And you underestimate us if you hope to vanquish us on your own. Even with your family behind you, you would not have the skill or the power to do that."

"We'll see," the man replied simply.

"Our battle is not with you, witch," Jhorun spoke up. "We only want revenge on the Source. Walk away now, while you still have the chance."

"Too late. It's been too late since you attacked Prue," the man replied.

Sarina nodded. "How's your cousin? I imagine she is running out of time. Are you sure you want to be spending her last moments down her with us instead of by her side?"

"Prue isn't the one who is going to die tonight."

It was Sarina's turn to reply with a simple, "We'll see."

Wyatt Halliwell lifted Excalibur and pointed it at Sarina. "Ready?"

And Sarina nodded. "Always."

* * *

Next Chapter: Silver Bullet 

Due: Not really sure. Hopefully soon, but as I said in the Author's note, things are a little crazy for me right now.


	39. Silver Bullet

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: Sorry about the delay in the update, I don't have any excuse except that I was very busy and sick over the past few weeks. Unfortunately, as we enter finals week, I am still going to be busy, so the updates will be a bit further apart than they were in the beginning. My apologies.

* * *

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Silver Bullet

The Seer turned to the Source. "It would appear that the Khail are causing distractions for us," she remarked in a pleased tone.

The Source nodded. "And they have started a battle with the Charmed Ones. The two can distract each other as they fight, and leave us to bring about the end without any problems."

"Unless they join sides again," the Seer said.

"They won't," the Source replied confidently. "Not after the attack on the empath's daughter." He paused, then sighed. "Still, I do not like to take chances. Perhaps I should send in another distraction of my own. Another attack."

The Seer nodded in agreement.

* * *

Phoebe, Pen, and Leo all stood stock still, staring at Jason with wide eyes. He stared back at them, his expression cold, his gaze accusatory. Silence settled over them, a tense silence. Pen and Leo finally had the sense to orb discreetly from the room, leaving Phoebe and Jason, their gazes locked, alone in the attic.

"What do you mean? What is killing Prue?" Jason asked finally, taking a few steps into the room. He glanced around, as though expecting to see some explanation of what was happening. "Where is _my_ daughter?"

Phoebe bristled. "_My_ daughter," she replied, emphasizing the word 'my,' "is at Magic School." She turned away from Jason and walked over to the empty podium.

"What happened to her?" Jason asked, striding purposefully over to Phoebe.

"She was hit by a type of magic which…well, it kills her," Phoebe said slowly, rubbing weary eyes. She did not want to go into the details with Jason, how could it help? He didn't understand magic, and therefore would not actually be able to offer any advice.

"When? How long? Why didn't you call me?" Jason asked, trying to keep his temper under control. He could see that Phoebe was scared, and the little that he did know about what was going on and what the Source was trying to do reminded him that they had a good reason to be scared. Still, it didn't sit well with him that Prue had been ill and no one had told her. What if she had died? Would they have called him before she drew her last breath, or waited until she was already gone?

Shaking his head, he pushed the thoughts away. He didn't want to think that, didn't want to consider his daughter's death.

"There isn't anything you can do, and we were focused on saving Prue and the world," Phoebe replied honestly.

"She's my daughter."

"We're filing for divorce," Phoebe said quietly.

"That doesn't make her any less my daughter," Jason pointed out reasonably.

"Isn't that why you wanted the divorce?" Phoebe shot back. "So that you would be free of this family."

"Of course not!" Jason hissed. "I wanted the divorce because I didn't want to feel like I was only your husband at specific times. But you divorce a spouse, not a child."

"What did you think was going to happen when we got divorced, Jason? That things could continue with you and Prue like nothing happened?" Phoebe sighed and turned to look at Jason. "It isn't that simple and you know it. You got divorced because you felt like you couldn't be a part of this family anymore…"

"We got divorced because I was never a true part of this family to start with," Jason retorted.

"So what? This is my fault?" Phoebe bit the words off angrily.

"No!" Jason sighed and took a slow breath, choosing his next words carefully. "This wasn't anyone's fault, and I certainly don't blame you for what happened. But I am still Prue's father, and you should have told me that she was in danger."

"I didn't see a reason to it, Jason," Phoebe said with a shrug. "I don't see how you can help."

"I still have the right to know," Jason argued.

"No, you don't. Not about this. About who she is dating and where she decides to go to college and whether or not she starts shoplifting or running with the wrong crowd. But not this."

"How can you say that?" Jason snapped. "Why do you get to be in every part of Prue's life and I don't? Why do you get to decide what I can or can't do? She is _my_ daughter."

"Because I am the one who protects her when the demons attack. I am the one who trained her how to use her powers. I am the one who helps her with research and making potions. And I am the one who is going to be saving her life," Phoebe replied pointedly. "And sooner or later you are going to have to trust my judgment on this. I'll call you when it is over, I'll call you when you need to be called. But not any sooner than that."

Jason glared at Phoebe for a moment, then shook his head. "I won't be kept out of my daughter's life, Phoebe."

"I'm not trying to keep you out of it. I'm trying to keep Prue safe, and she isn't safe if I have to call you every time a demon attacks!" Phoebe cried in exasperation. "Listen to yourself, Jason. You are acting as though I am going to hurt her. I'm her mother, and I am trying to do what is best for Prue."

"At the cost of what is best for this family?" Jason shot back.

"Yes!"

There was a dead silence in the room as Jason stared at Phoebe in shock. Then Phoebe turned and looked away, exhaustion etched into the lines on her face.

"I am going to do what is best for Prue at the expense of what is best for us because she is my first priority. And if you really want what is best for Prue, you will understand that." Phoebe sighed and ran a hand through her short hair. "Besides, we are divorced now."

"So that's it?" Jason asked incredulously.

Phoebe nodded slowly. "That's it."

* * *

"I found something," Nathaniel announced, hurrying towards Kyle, holding a book in his hand.

Kyle looked up at the other Elder, forcing himself to tear his eyes away from his dying niece. The room was dark, so he had to squint through the dim light to see his colleague. Someone, although Kyle was not entirely sure who, had decided it was best to turn the lights off in this room, as though it would bring Prue more peace.

"What?" Kyle asked sharply, extending his hand to take the book from Nathaniel.

"It is a record of a battle between two demon cults. They're aren't any names, but the second one sounds like the Khail," Nathaniel explained as Kyle scanned the page. "It describes them using the same power that they used on Prue."

"Is there an antidote for it?" Kyle asked, scarcely daring to hope.

"Turn the page," was all Nathaniel replied.

Kyle flipped the page and felt his breath catch in his throat. There, on the page, was a list of ingredients needed to make a potion that would undo whatever they had done. He read through the entry, excitement growing, then frowned at the last sentence.

"It says there are some side effects. Do we know what those are?" he asked.

Nathaniel shook his head. "But as long as we administer the potion in Magic School, Prue can't die. Anything else that happens can be dealt with later."

Kyle nodded and glanced back at the ingredients for the potion. "Some of these will be hard to get," he commented. "I had better take this back to the others so we can get started on tracking stuff down." He glanced over at Nathaniel. "Thank you."

Nathaniel smiled. "Of course, Kyle," he replied, waving away the compliment. "I'll keep an eye on Prue for you." Kyle orbed out of the room, and Nathaniel glanced down at Prue. "Better hurry," he muttered to himself, noting the lack of color in the young witch's face. She was running out of time.

Prue shifted in her sleep, her eyelids fluttering, nonsense words falling from her lips.

"_Mom?" Prue pushed her hair out of her eyes and walked slowly through the Manor, frowning when her mother didn't answer her. She shrugged and headed towards the stairs. Phoebe had probably just gone into work that day. Although the advice columnist usually worked from home, there were days when she was forced to work at the office._

"_Chris? Wyatt?" Prue paused outside her cousins' room. After Piper had died, Phoebe and Jason had moved into the Manor to look after Chris and Wyatt. Grandpa had insisted that he was perfectly capable of taking care of the boys himself, but Phoebe had been concerned about their safety. After all, her father had no magical powers, and demons attacked every day. So they all lived there now, Phoebe, Jason, Victor, Chris, Wyatt, and Prue._

_Chris' and Wyatt's room was empty. They were probably still at school. Paige often asked them to stay and help out at some of the extracurricular activities for the younger students. Chris did it willingly, because everyone knew he had no desire to return to the house and spent as much time out of the Manor as possible. To many reminders of Piper there._

_Prue continued down the hallway to her own room. It was unlike everyone to be gone, and it had her slightly worried. Did they go out on a demon hunt? She dropped her backpack by the door to her room and headed towards the stairs to the attic. If they had gone on a demon hunt, the Book would probably be open to the entry about the demon of interest. _

_At the top of the stairs, she felt something flow through her, a warning of some sort. She shivered uncontrollably, but the feeling passed, and she pushed the door to the attic open._

_And screamed._

_Phoebe and Paige lay in the center of the attic, crumpled into awkward positions, blood staining their clothes and collecting on the floor around them. Their lifeless eyes stared out at the rest of the room, blank and unseeing. Two demons stood next to the Book, staring at it but not touching it. they turned when Prue opened the door and smirked, conjuring fireballs in their hands._

_But Prue was not screaming in vain._

"_Wyatt! Chris! Wyatt! Help me!"_

_Wyatt orbed into the room in time to see the first demon throw a fireball. He raised his hand and telekinetically stopped the fireball in mid air. Then his gaze fell on his murdered aunts, and his expression turned to cold fury. _

_It was not long before both the demons were nothing but piles of ash on the floor.

* * *

_

Justin glanced at the roses in his hand as he reached up and knocked on the door of the Manor. He shifted weight nervously, scuffing his shoes against the stone steps. It was unlike him to do anything as unexpected as show up unannounced, but Prue had been so distant lately, and he just wanted to make sure everything was alright. When he had spoken to her previously, she had mentioned that she and her mother were staying at the Manor for a few days, and since he lived close by, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to stop by.

The door flew open a moment later, and Justin blinked at the thirteen-year-old staring up at him. After a second, the names Mel and Pen floated into his mind. He was never really sure which was which, they looked so much alike. Deciding to play it safe, he said, "Hi," and left out the name altogether.

"Hey, Justin," the girl replied. She glanced back into the house, apprehension on her features. "Now isn't the best time…"

"Mel? Who is at the door?" Paige's voice floated out to them.

"It's Justin, Mom," Mel called back. She turned back to Justin. "Prue's not here right now. She went out with some friends… I'm not sure when she is going to be back. But I can tell her you stopped by."

Justin nodded in disappointment. He stepped into the house, pushing past Mel who seemed reluctant to let him enter. Standing in the hallway, he held out the flowers to Mel and said, "Can you give these to her when she comes back? They're white roses…her favorite."

"You're very sweet," Paige said, appearing from the sunroom. "I'll put them in some water so that they are still fresh when she gets here."

Phoebe and Jason appeared on the stairs at that moment, angrily arguing with each other.

"Phoebe, you can't expect me to be okay with this!"

"You don't have a choice. This is for the best, and if you would just…"

They broke off and glanced at Justin in surprise.

"Hey Mr. Dean, Mrs. Halliwell," Justin said awkwardly, shifting his weight once again. He was starting to get the impression that he had chosen a bad time for his surprise visit. "I just dropped off some flowers for Prue. But I should go, so…" He turned to leave.

And then weird lights appeared in the room.

And the lights coalesced into a shape, a figure, a person.

Kyle.

"I found a recipe for a potion to save Prue," Kyle began quickly. "It's kind of complicated, but it could work…" He broke off in surprise as he registered Justin's presence.

And then the room was filled with strange looking men holding balls of fire in their hands.

Justin barely had time to think how bizarre this entire experience was before he felt a had shove him to the floor as the cabinet behind him exploded into flame.

* * *

Chris closed his hand into a tight fist, telekinetically strangling the dark-lighter in front of him. Piper stood to his side, her eyes fixed on her younger son in stunned amazement. This was a side of him she had never seen before, and by the look of surprise in his own eyes, he hadn't realized it existed either.

But the pacifist was completely gone.

"Did Wyatt Halliwell contact you or any other dark-lighter in the past few hours?" Chris snarled. The dark-lighter said nothing, so Chris waved his hand and sent the unfortunate being crashing into the cave wall. "Tell me!"

"Ye…es," the dark-lighter chocked out, pulling himself to his knees and eyeing the two witches warily.

"When?" Piper asked quietly. "What did he want? What did you tell him?"

The dark-lighter frowned at Piper as he got to his feet. He was tall, much taller than either the witch of the witch-lighter. His brown eyes were hard and cold and partially obscured by a mop of black hair that fell over his face. His pale lips stretched into a sneer. "What do I get out of telling you?" he demanded.

Piper raised an eyebrow. The dark-lighter was certainly confident, she'd give him that much. After having been tossed about like a rag doll by Chris, he still managed to insist on something in return for his services.

Chris, however, was less than impressed. "You get to live," he snapped back, curling his fingers again.

The dark-lighter was more prepared this time. As he felt his windpipe constrict, he threw out both hands, sending energy balls flying from his fingertips. Neither was powerful enough to kill, in fact, neither was even aimed directly at Piper or Chris. But they were enough to make the two agents of good step back, and Chris lost his telekinetic hold on the dark-lighter.

The dark-lighter grinned and conjured his crossbow. Pointing the arrow directly at Chris, he said, "Or maybe it should be you who is worried about possible death."

Piper stepped forward, but something in Chris suddenly took control, some instinct he didn't know he possessed. And he was fighting before he even realized what it was he was doing.

Using his telekinesis, he sent a stream of dust and dirt from the floor straight into the dark-lighter's eyes. The dark-lighter pulled the trigger on his crossbow as the dirt blinded him, but Chris orbed out of the path of the arrow and reappeared directly in front of the dark-lighter. He used his powers to snap the crossbow in half while telekinetically pinning the other man's arms to his side. Then, with one adroit move, he threw the dark-lighter backwards and into the far wall of the cave, still using his powers to prevent his victim from moving in any way. The dark-lighter was therefore unable to cushion his fall, and he crumpled to the ground with a sickening thud.

Chris paused, a stunned expression appearing on his face. He turned and met Piper's gaze. She was staring at him in surprise as well, her mouth slightly open as she took in her son's fighting ability.

"How did you…?"

Chris blinked and shook his head. "I…the other me…the other me did that," he stumbled through a rationalization. He wasn't entirely sure he could explain what had just happened. It was as though some other part of him had taken over. He had been acting on instinct, but it felt so familiar…

Piper turned away from her son and back to the dark-lighter. "What did Wyatt Halliwell ask you and what did you tell him?" she demanded.

The dark-lighter pushed himself back to his knees and shook his head. "It wasn't me," he sputtered, coughing up blood. "He approached another dark-lighter, one of the ones that had worked with the Khail."

"Do you know where the Khail are?" Chris cut in quickly.

The dark-lighter frowned slightly. "Maybe. I might be able to help you… for a price."

"I thought we already had this discussion," Chris hissed.

The dark-lighter smirked at Chris. "You can throw me around as much as you want, and eventually I'm sure you will get your answer. But can you afford to wait for that eventuality? Because my bet is that, if your brother is going up against the Khail, you don't have that much time."

Chris sighed, knowing that the dark-lighter was right.

"Fine. What's your price?" Piper asked as she walked over to her younger son.

The dark-lighter grinned. "One, you don't tell anyone that you talked to me. I have enough enemies without demons knowing I worked with witches. Two, you let me leave here safely. And three, you don't attack me anymore. Ever." Piper's eyes widened at the last demand, but the dark-lighter continued quickly, "I won't attack any of your family or friends. I'll move my life to the other side of the world. But if we cross paths, no one in your family can attack me."

"That's a bad deal to make," Piper whispered to Chris.

Chris nodded. "But do we have a choice?"

Piper hesitated, then said, "Alright, it's a deal. How do we find the Khail?"

* * *

Next Chapter: Miracles 

Due: Fri 5/5


	40. Miracles

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: So, I really liked Sarina, and she ended up being a bigger character than she was originally supposed to be. But this is the last chapter that she is in. This is also a turning point in the story, and we are starting the wrap up to the final battle. Pay attention to the subtle changes in Chris as he becomes more like the other Chris.

* * *

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Miracles

The sword whistled through the air, crashing down with almost uncontrollable power. Sarina shimmered away a moment before the sword splintered the stone behind her, reappearing behind Wyatt. She conjured an thin dagger and threw it, but Wyatt spun around and whipped Excalibur in front of him, splintering the dagger from hilt to point. Fragments of broken metal clattered to the floor in the deathly silent room.

The Khail formed a tight circle around the two enemies, but no one made a move to enter the fight. Sarina had ordered them to stand down until the end of the fight, and the Khail, despite their lies and tricks, kept their word when they promised a fair fight.

And Sarina was already enough of a match for Wyatt.

Wyatt conjured an energy ball with his left hand and through it at Sarina. She caught it in her own hand and tossed it back at Wyatt, and he telekinetically pushed it away. It flew towards the circle, and the Khail instantly shimmered out of the way. A dark black scorch mark appeared on the cave wall, then the Khail shimmered back in and took their places once again.

"Do you know how long we've been around, witch?" Sarina asked quietly. The wind in the room picked up, throwing dust and dirt into the air. "Do you know how long we've had to survive with the entire Underworld as our enemy?" It became hard to see as the air filled with tiny particles.

Wyatt blinked several times to clear his vision, peering through the thick air to find his target. "A long time?" he asked innocently. A shadow moved to his left, and he sent a blast of energy from his palm. The shadow shimmered away, and Sarina's voice suddenly came from another part of the cave.

"Longer than your entire line of witches has been alive," Sarina called back. "Do you really think you can fight that?"

Wyatt waved his hand, forcing the dust to towards the floor and clearing his vision. "Watch me," he snarled, turning to throw a energy ball at Sarina.

Sarina didn't move, didn't make any effort to stop the energy from hitting her. It caught her hard in the stomach, but as the energy made contact with her skin, she closed her eyes and concentrated, absorbing it into herself. Her skin began to glow, then she forced the energy through her veins and into her hands. Extending her palms outward, she sent the energy flying back towards Wyatt. Wyatt lifted Excalibur and caught the crackling electricity on his blade, redirecting it back at Sarina. She caught the energy in one hand and extinguished it by clenching her fist.

Wyatt attacked, moving forward rapidly and reigning a series of blows at Sarina. The high priestess jumped back and conjured a long, thin rapier, raised it above her head, and blacked the first of Wyatt's attacks. She parried with him for a moment, then jabbed the blade forward quickly, nicking the skin on his wrist and drawing a drop of blood. Wyatt hissed in pain and renewed his attack, the rage boiling in his blood.

Sarina shimmered away from him, putting more distance between herself and the enraged witch. Wyatt spun around, throwing Excalibur with deadly accuracy at the demon. But Sarina dropped her own blade and reached out, catching Excaliber in midair, her hands closing around the hilt and stopping the sword a hair's breadth away from her heart. She swung the sword adroitly, feeling the power radiating from it. It whistled and hummed, and she smiled, turning feral eyes to Wyatt.

"Nice sword," she comment dryly.

Wyatt extended his hand, intent on calling for his sword. But to his surprise, it would not leave Sarina's grasp.

Sarina laughed. "You think the sword is your by right?" she asked. "It belongs to the greatest power."

"I am the ultimate power," Wyatt snarled, renewing his efforts to obtain his lost weapon.

"You are the ultimate power of good," Sarina remarked. "You could take this sword from anyone, even the Source." She smirked, her eyes glowing. "But I am the ultimate power of evil, and you can't take it from me."

Wyatt paused, seeming to realize his mistake. "The sword is good," he said quietly, never letting his telekinetic pull on the blade waver. "It won't work for you."

"Weapons aren't good or evil," Sarina replied seriously. "It all depends on who wields them. Surely you've learned that by now."

Wyatt blinked once, and Sarina was surprised to feel her entire body engulfed in flame. She let go of her hold on Excalibur and focused her energy on quenching the flames that threatened to vanquish her. A moment later, the fire was gone.

Wyatt smiled as he held his sword in one hand. "Give up yet?" he taunted.

Sarina shook her head, dark hair flying about her face. "Give up?" she laughed. "Never."

And the fighting began again.

The two swords met in midair, and tiny sparks leapt from the metal as they clashed together, and rained down on the group.

"I wonder… do you think your cousin is still alive?" Sarina asked, panting for breath as she dodged Wyatt's attack. Lifting her rapier, she lunged forward and stabbed at Wyatt, but he pulled backwards and turned to the side, and her sword sliced harmlessly through air.

"Shut up!" Wyatt snarled, images of Prue's unconscious form filling his mind.

"I don't know how long that particular power takes before it kills," Sarina continued. "I haven't used it in a while. But I don't think it is that long…" Her taunts filled the room with a icy tension.

Wyatt stumbled, his anger getting the better of him. He attacked haphazardly, seeing through a haze of rage and fury. The anger in his veins pumped wildly through him, and he threw caution to the wind.

Sarina watched with calculating pleasure as the witch lost control of the fire that burned within him. She parried and dodged, and jabbed, waiting for him to make a mistake, waiting for him to give her an opening…

And he did.

Sarina snatched her chance, jumping forward and bringing her sword down on his right hand, the flat side of the blade hitting his knuckles. Excalibur feel from his grasp, and Sarina caught it easily, pulling it away from Wyatt and out of his reach. At the same time, she lifted her own sword and, breathing heavily, flicked the tip against Wyatt's throat. Pressing the cold metal onto his skin, she stared at him with a satisfied expression.

The circle of Khail released a simultaneous sigh of relief at the victory. None of them had wanted Sarina to die, and Wyatt was a formidable enemy.

"Those who wear their heart on their sleeves may find that their enemies have an easier time ripping it out," Sarina said softly, red eyes fixed on Wyatt.

"Then kill me," Wyatt snarled.

"Why so much rage?" Sarina asked quietly. "Don't be a fool. Would killing me have saved Prue? Would it have made things better for you?"

Wyatt stared at her for a moment, unsure. "It would have made me feel better," he ground out at last.

"If you can't control your rage, it will control you," Sarina remarked.

"I don't need advice from a demon," Wyatt spat.

"Don't you?" Sarina mocked. "If you had just stayed away from us, you wouldn't be on the brink of dying right now. But you didn't stay away, and now your family will lose two people instead of just one."

Wyatt said nothing.

Bright orbs filled the room, and the Khail turned as one to see Chris and Piper appear. Chris took in the entire scene in once glance and raised his hand, preparing to send the Khail priestess away from his brother.

But Sarina stopped him coolly, "I really wouldn't do that if I were you. He'd be dead before you had a chance to save him."

"Wait," Chris said, stepping forward and away from Piper. The eldest Charmed One looked as though she wanted to stop her son, but she said nothing, an inner instinct telling her not to interfere. Chris knew what he was doing.

"Why?" Sarina asked.

Chris glanced around at the clan of demons, surprised that they hadn't attacked him yet. But if he had the opportunity to talk, he wasn't going to waste it. "Listen, if you kill Wyatt, you will be doing more harm to your cause than good."

"And how's that?" Sarina asked icily.

"You want revenge on the Source?" Chris asked. Sarina nodded, and a murmur ran through the other demons. They all wanted revenge. "If you kill Wyatt," Chris continued, "we won't be able to stop the Source."

"I don't need you to do that. I have the Book, I'll have Excalibur, and I have my clan," Sarina pointed out.

"Do you even know what he is trying to do?" Chris asked.

"He's trapped in hell," Sarina answered. "He's trying to end everything. That much I gleaned while staying in your house." She smirked slightly at the comment.

"We can stop him," Chris said. "Keep him trapped in hell. That is the best revenge you could ever have." He glanced over at Wyatt. "We've been working on this for a while, we have ideas and plans. We are further ahead on this than you are. It is in your best interest to let Wyatt go and return the Book."

"They tried to kill Prue!" Wyatt hissed, turning incredulous eyes to his brother. "And you want to let them go?"

Chris ignored Wyatt's comment, staring directly at Sarina. "Let us go," he repeated.

"Why would we ever agree to that?" Sarina asked. "We are on opposite sides of this battle, Christopher. We aren't allies."

"We have a common enemy," Chris countered.

"And the enemy of my enemy is my friend?" Sarina asked. She looked back at Wyatt, who was still standing in front of her. She stared down the length of the blade, watching as the light reflected off the cold metal. She was unsure of what to do.

"You know as well as I do that this is your best course of action," Chris whispered.

"Would you trust us to work with you?" one of the Khail asked, breaking the silence of the circle.

Chris turned and glanced at the demon. "Of course not," he answered dismissively. "And I'm not asking you to work with us. I'm asking you not to interfere while we take on the Source. That's all…"

"Even if you stop the Source now, what's to say that he won't just try to come back later?" Sarina questioned.

Chris shrugged. "I can't promise that he won't do that," he admitted. "But that is out of my control. All I can do is promise to stop him this time, or die trying."

"That's not enough," another Khail snarled, stepping forward. "He destroyed us, witch. He may have killed one or your family, but he _destroyed_ us. Do you know how long we have been exiled? Do you know how long we have been forced to hide and sneak around like common thieves in the night because of him? He must pay for all eternity."

"Nobody can make sure that happens," Piper interupted, her eyes sweeping over the gathered Khail. "We can only change what is happening here and now. The distant future is out of our hands." She shot a look at Chris. "Although, Chris was the way the Source started his plan, using the two different versions of him to create the first of the connections... it is unlikely he will be able to find another opportunity as good as this one. At least, not for a few thousand years."

"And who will stop him then?" the Khail demanded.

"Hush, Mori," Sarina commanded. Her eyes were fixed on Chris. "I'm evil," she said at last. "I don't work with witches, and I don't make promises to them either."

Chris stared at her for a moment, then spoke softly, "You may be evil, but we have at least one thing in common. Your greatest concern is for the safety of your clan, my greatest concern is for the safety of my family. I don't know much about the Khail, but I do know that, unlike other demonic clans, you value each other's lives more than anything else. In that sense, you are more like us than like the rest of the Underworld."

"That doesn't change the fact that we are evil," Sarina pointed out.

"You've already made an enemy of the Source. If you are not on his side, what is keeping you from being on ours?" Chris pressed.

"Did you miss the whole I'm-evil-thing?" Sarina asked, shaking her head in annoyance.

"I just made a deal with a dark-lighter in order to find you," Chris said softly. "I can make one with you as well."

"Where did you learn to speak so persuasively?" Sarina asked curiously.

"In another lifetime," Chris replied honestly. "In another place, when I also had to convince demons to join my cause."

"Jhorun?" Sarina called. The Khail in question stepped forward. "Do we have everything we need from the Book?"

"Vanquishing spells and potions, we should be able to eliminate all of our greatest enemies within the Underworld. Strengthening potions for before our battles. And protective spells for our lairs,' Jhorun replied. "Once we have removed the threat that the Source posses, we should not have to much difficulty… _convincing_… the Underworld to accept us again."

Sarina nodded. She glanced at Wyatt, then at Piper, then at Chris. "Alright. We'll give you the Book and Wyatt's life. And we will leave you alone until the Source is stopped… this time."

"What about Prue?" Chris asked.

"Tell your white-lighter Uncle that the recipe potion he has will work, but he has to add black ivy root to it," Sarina replied.

Chris nodded. "Alright," he agreed.

Sarina glanced at the other Khail. "Leave the Book where it is," she said, nodding to the side of the cave where the Book sat, unnoticed by Wyatt, Chris, of Piper. "And move out."

The Khail obeyed the command without question, shimmering away quickly.

"Give me your word as the High Priestess of the Khial that you won't interfere until the Source is stopped," Chris demanded.

"I give you my word," Sarina said. And she meant it, and Chris sensed that she spoke the truth.

"Our truce only lasts until the Source is stopped," Chris continued. "After that, we will come after you." His words were hard, a threat.

Sarina smirked at him, the skin around her eyes crinkling slightly. "We'll be waiting," she promised. Then she dropped Excalibur and shimmered out of the cave.

Chris walked over to Wyatt and stared at his brother for a long time. Then he reached out and smacked Wyatt on the back of the head. "You idiot," he reprimanded. "What on earth were you thinking?"

Wyatt backed away from Chris in anger. "I'm not the one who just made a deal with a demon," he snarled. "A demon that tried to kill Prue, no less."

Piper watched her two sons, sensing that she shouldn't enter this conversation. Instead, she walked over to the Book and picked it up, holding it gingerly in her hands.

"And you could have gotten yourself killed," Chris pointed out.

"How can you trust them after what they did?" Wyatt asked.

"I don't trust them. Which is the reason I didn't tell Sarina everything about the Source's plan or ask her to help us return the Hollow if it is released. I don't trust her enough to put her in the same room as one of the most powerful magical objects in the world and expect her not to betray us. But I trust her to want the Source stuck in hell."

"You made a deal with the devil," Wyatt spat.

"Yes," Chris agreed.

"And you don't have a problem with that?" Wyatt demanded, shaking his head in incredulity.

"Not if it keeps us alive," Chris replied. "Not if it keeps you alive." He gave Wyatt a hard stare. "I made a lot of dangerous deals in my other life. Sometimes it's the only choice."

Wyatt drew an angry breath and said nothing.

"This isn't you, Wyatt. This anger, this hatred… This isn't you," Chris whispered. "Don't get sucked into it. Don't get lost." Chris swallowed. "You did it once before, and I don't ever want to see that world again."

Wyatt nodded, feeling the rage slowly fade away. After a moment, he realized in horror what he had done, and his eyes went wide with shock.

"Oh, _God_…"

"Come on," Piper cut in, determining that everything was alright again. "Let's go home."

"I'm sorry…" Wyatt began, but Chris just waved his hand.

"Don't worry about it," Chris replied quietly.

"But I…" Wyatt protested.

"_Forget_ it." Chris gave Wyatt a slight smile. "Let's go home."

Piper watched her two sons, and felt pride swell within her. She had to wonderful sons, both of whom cared about their family more than anything else, and both of whom were still alive. And good. Remembering the other Chris, she blinked back the tears. She hoped he was watching this right now. She hoped he saw…

She hoped he realized just how much of a miracle he had managed to create.

* * *

Justin pulled himself to his feet and looked around the room in confusion. The strange men who had suddenly appeared were gone now, most of them having burst into flame at some point. Mel, Pen, Leo, Kyle, Paige, and Phoebe were all gathered in the sunroom, while Jason had been sent away in strange looking lights by Kyle. A moment ago, Piper, Chris, and Wyatt had appeared in the room as well, also using those weird lights. Wyatt had a big sword in his hand, and looked a little disheveled. 

"Uh…" Justin stared at the flowers on the floor. They were slightly trampled, the white petals scattered around the flowerless stems.

All eyes turned towards him. For a moment, there was a complete silence, then Leo stepped forward and said quickly, "Justin, we can explain…"

Justin stared at Leo for a moment, surprised that he wasn't actually that surprised. He shook his head slowly, wondering vaguely if he was in shock.

"You're all freaks," he commented. He didn't mean it disrespectfully, and he stated it as a simple fact.

"Leo, you deal with Justin," Phoebe said quickly. "I'm going to get started on the potion for Prue. Kyle, can you orb Jason back over here? I think I still need to talk to him…"

Kyle nodded and orbed away. Mel and Pen followed their mother and Phoebe into kitchen, and Wyatt quickly hurried after them, calling out, "About the potion, we are going to need black ivy root…" Piper glanced at Leo and then turned and headed up to the attic to put the Book back. Chris glanced around, realized he had nothing to do, and orbed to Magic School to see how Prue was doing.

"Are you going to kill me?" Justin asked. He blinked and frowned. Why wasn't he concerned about his death? Perhaps the shock…

"No," Leo said quickly. "We're good people, we don't kill innocents."

"Do you kill guilty people?" Justin asked, following Leo's statement to his logical conclusion. His mind kept telling him that this was the point where he should start screaming, but somehow… Shock was a very strange feeling, he decided. Everything seemed so… detached.

"Well, we vanquish demons," Leo replied. Justin was taking the news rather well, but Leo was slightly worried what would happen when the shock wore off.

"Demons?" Justin rubbed his eyes. "That's… unusual." He walked over to the wicker loveseat and sat down. "I guess that explains why Prue has to inexplicably cancel dates sometimes." Really, he should be screaming now. Why wasn't he? The fear and panic should have kicked in by now…

"Yes," Leo said.

"Okay," Justin replied. He figured he could deal with that. After all, she was still Prue… just a freakish Prue.

Leo nodded. He almost wished he didn't have to erase Justin's memory. The boy was taking everything so well, but he was clearly still in shock.

"So… what happens now?" Justin asked.

Leo closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and said, "Now I erase this from your memory."

Justin frowned. "I don't like the sound of that." Run. This is the time to run. The words echoed through his mind, as he silently commanded his feet to start moving.

Nothing happened.

Huh.

That was weird.

Leo pulled out a handful of dust and stared at Justin.

"Do you carry memory-altering dust with you everywhere?" Justin asked curiously.

Leo nodded. "Just in case," he replied, holding his hand up to his lips and blowing on the dust.

Justin frowned as the golden dust floated towards him. His fear was starting to kick in now, and he felt the urge to scream. He was dating a freak. Granted she was still Prue, but her family had been so strange, and apparently had the power to make people go up in flames. Not mention the fact that Wyatt had a sword that he apparently carried around with him.

Justin stood up, feeling his legs start to move. He turned towards the door, his mouth open to scream…

And the memory dust hit him in the face...

* * *

Three hours later the entire family gathered around Prue as Phoebe poured some of the potion into Prue's mouth. They waited with abated breath, then Prue's entire body began to glow with a strange light. She mumbled and twisted back and forth on the sofa, beads of sweat appearing on her forehead. 

Then her eyes snapped open and she gulped in air as the entire family piled on top of her in a huge group hug.

* * *

Piper walked slowly up the stairs to the attic. Prue was still with Phoebe and Jason, who had managed to set aside their anger long enough to spend time with their recovering daughter. Chris and Wyatt had orbed to the Underworld to find some demon informants who could help them figure out exactly how to stop the Source. Piper had been reluctant to let them go, but, after seeing how Chris had managed to save himself and Wyatt that afternoon, she knew it was time to let go. Paige was with Mel and Pen, training them in their powers, and Leo and Kyle had orbed Up There to talk to the Elders. 

It was time they stopped being the victims and went on the offensive. The Source was not going to get away with his plan, not after it had cost them so much to stop him in the first place.

Piper stood in the middle of the attic and looked around the room. Then she closed her eyes and took a deep breath and started talking. She wasn't talking to anyone in particular, but she needed to say these things, to hear them out loud.

"We need to let go. We've spent so long thinking we can solve every problem, we can keep everyone safe, and that isn't true. I think we all forgot that we are just witches. We may be Charmed, we may be Halliwells, we may be… we may be feared by almost the entire Underworld, but we are still human. I had to let Melinda and that other timeline go. We have to accept the fact that we can only postpone the Source's plan, but that he could still try again at some point in the future. Maybe not for a millennia, and then it will be someone else's problem. We can't fix everything. We can't control everything. We are only human, and we can't forget that."

She sighed and sat down on the sofa. "I screwed up a lot of things. We all did. But we'll get it right the next time around."

She got up and walked over to the Book, flipping through the pages. After a moment, the found the spell she wanted and read over it quickly. It was a summoning spell. She smiled slightly and then closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It hadn't worked when she had tried it before, but perhaps that was because she wasn't saying it for the right reasons.

She spoke the spell, hoping that it would work this time.

And it did.

The figure appeared in the room, surprised. "Wh-what…?"

"I need your help," Piper said bluntly, staring at the woman in front of her.

Two razor thin eyebrows shot up, and a set of brown eyes widened in surprise. "Oh?"

"Yes," Piper continued. "We need to stop the Source from bringing about the end of the world and the only way to do that is to keep the Hollow from being released. We aren't sure how to do that because we can't find any evil that is willing to help us return the Hollow if it is released. But Leo said that a neutral being might be able to do it, and we didn't want to summon the Avatars, and since assassins technically are neutral, we thought you might be able to help us. So, we need to find the Hollow before the Source ends everything, although we aren't entirely sure when or where that will happen." She paused, suddenly realizing how futile the task seemed. "Maybe you should sit down, it's going to take a while to get you caught up to speed," she commented, pointing towards the sofa.

Bianca nodded and took a seat, and Piper moved to join her.

Behind her, the cover of the Book of Shadows glowed with a golden light, and the triqueta reformed itself. Phoebe in Magic School with her ex-husband and daughter, Paige in the basement with her twins, and Piper in the attic with Bianca, all felt a warmth suffuse through them. They had gotten their powers back.

They had finally learned the lesson.

* * *

Next Chapter: On the Offensive 

Due: Fri 5/12


	41. On the Offensive

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: This chapter is really short, so I apologize for that. The next one will be longer, I just haven't had that much time to write during finals.

* * *

Chapter Forty: One the Offensive

"I'm sorry, you _what_?" Chris demanded harshly, looking back and forth between his mother and his girlfriend. He had walked into the attic only a few moments before, to find Bianca and Piper talking quietly to each other. His first thought had been that his mother had finally gone and figured out how to find Bianca, and was planning on vanquishing her. But the two woman had quickly set him straight on that one, and now he was staring incredulously at them.

"I asked Bianca to help us," Piper repeated, not entirely sure why Chris was so upset.

"But what is the Source attacks?" Chris asked heatedly.

"That's why I asked her to help us. She could be an asset," Piper said calmly, taking a step towards her younger son.

Chris took a step backwards, stumbling into Wyatt, who had appeared in the doorway to the attic. The blonde witch-lighter reached out and steadied his brother, his blue eyes widening at the sight of Bianca.

"Chris…?" Bianca asked quietly, stepping around Piper and crossing the room towards her boyfriend.

"I don't think it's a good idea," Chris said brusquely. "You could get hurt."

"So could you," Bianca pointed out.

"But…" Chris shook his head. "No, you can't. I mean, what is the warlock comes after you? What if you revert into an assassin again?"

"What?" Bianca shot a confused look back at Piper. Having been forced out of everything earlier, she had no idea who the warlock was or what he did.

Piper shook her head wordlessly at Bianca and turned to Chris. "I thought you wanted to tell Bianca what was going on? Isn't that why you went over there in the first place?"

"But I don't want to get her killed!" Chris cried, throwing his hands up in the air. Why couldn't anyone else see the danger in this?

"I'm not going to get killed," Bianca argued softly, reaching out and placing a hand on Chris' arm. "And from everything your mother said, you do need my help."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Chris asked accusingly, swinging around to face his mother. "Why didn't you tell me what you were doing? Or, at least, consult me before sending my girlfriend into danger? Or were you hoping to get her killed without me knowing?"

"Chris!" Wyatt and Piper admonished simultaneously.

Chris turned back to Bianca. "You can't do this," he said. "It's not safe."

Bianca smiled gently. "That's not your decision, Chris. I can help you. I _want_ to help."

"No," Chris replied swiftly. "You can't help. I _won't_ let you."

The moment the words were out of his mouth, Chris knew they were the wrong ones to say. Bianca's eyes narrowed dangerously, and she stepped away from Chris, her gaze never leaving his face. "Excuse me?" she asked in a positively glacial tone.

Wyatt gave a short chuckle of amusement, which he quickly turned into a cough as both Bianca and Chris swung around to face him. Excusing himself from the room, he turned and fled down the stairs, his footsteps echoing in the silence that had fallen over the attic.

"I didn't mean…" Chris began apologetically, switching his attention back to Bianca, but the enraged Phoenix cut him off.

"You don't get to tell me what I can and can't do, Chris," she hissed, flipping dark hair out of her eyes. "You don't get to order me around!"

Chris swallowed apprehensively, and shot a pleading glance at his mother, who was, for some strange reason, watching the entire scene in amusement.

"He's just worried about you," Piper said at last, taking pity on her son. "This is dangerous, and there is always a chance you could get hurt."

"Welcome to my life," Bianca replied dryly. "I've dealt with danger before."

"I just can't lose you," Chris said honestly. Bianca's cold façade melted slightly as Chris' words, and the witch-lighter hurried on. "It was hard not to call you in the beginning and tell you everything that was going on, but I didn't want to run the risk of you getting involved and getting hurt."

"Chris, if our relationship is going to go anywhere, sooner or later you are going to have to accept the fact that I _will_ be in danger. We always are," Bianca pointed out.

Chris nodded reluctantly. "I know," he admitted. "I just… I just don't want to lose you," he repeated. There was an awkward pause, then Chris stepped forward and kissed Bianca. Piper quickly averted her eyes as Bianca kissed him back. A moment later they pulled apart, and Chris whispered, "I missed you."

"I missed you, too," Bianca murmured, resting her head on his chest as Chris wrapped his arms around her.

"Um…" Piper interrupted the display of affection hesitantly, and Bianca and Chris broke apart and looked over at her. "Okay, so I've been thinking. We know where the Hollow is kept. Maybe it would be a good idea if we brought the box to us? That way we can keep a better eye on it."

"Where is it?" Bianca asked. "I can go and get it for you."

Piper nodded. "The location is in the Book. Chris can help you find it, and the two of you can get it together. Then we'll give it to Leo, and he can take it to the Elders. They'll be able to guard it better."

"Won't that be considered a breach of the agreement good and evil made when the Hollow was first contained?" Bianca asked with a frown. Piper and Chris both gave her questioning looks, and Bianca elaborated, "At the beginning of time, when the Hollow was first controlled, good and evil agreed together that it would be kept on neutral territory, and it would be continually guarded by members from each side to ensure that it was never opened. If we remove it, we will have broken that agreement."

"But the Source is trying to open it right now," Chris countered. "He's already broken the agreement."

"Do we have proof of that?" Bianca asked skeptically. Chris raised an eyebrow at her in surprise, and the Phoenix hurried on, "I'm not saying I don't believe you. But the magical community, both good and evil… and neutral, for that matter… is going to need more than just your word about that if they are going to accept you meddling with the contract. The fear of the Hollow is so great…"

"The good magical community will accept it, and why would we care what evil thinks?" Piper replied.

"Because we can't afford to have any more enemies right now," Chris said quietly, understanding Bianca's point. "Anyway, are we sure that Good will accept it? The Elders might, but everyone else…? If they are afraid enough, they may not care that we are on their side."

"And the Hollow inspires fear," Piper finished. "Alright, I see your point. But I still think this is our best course of action. We can't let the Hollow fall into the Source's hands. If the Elders have it…"

"Then all the Source has to do is kill a white-lighter and take their powers," Bianca cut in.

"Are you always this pessimistic?" Piper asked in annoyance.

"No, I'm just realistic," Bianca shot back. "It's what has kept all the Phoenixes alive for so long."

"My mother is right, though," Chris said thoughtfully. "It will be harder for the Source to steal a white-lighter's powers. It is our best chance of keeping the Hollow safe." He paused, then finished, "Besides, its about time we went on the offensive."

Bianca shrugged. "Okay," she agreed. "If that's what you guys want…" She walked over to the Book and flipped the cover open, then began scanning the pages for an entry about the location of the Hollow. Chris joined her, and Piper slipped from the room.

* * *

"You erased his memory? You _erased_ it?"

"Prue, honey…"

"You _erased_ it?"

Phoebe shot a helpless look at Jason, who also seemed unsure of how to convince Prue that erasing Justin's memory was for the best. Jason just shrugged back. If he had had any choice in the matter, he would have at least given the boy a chance, but it had all been done behind his back.

Like usual.

"Prue, we had to," Leo said, entering the room and taking a seat on a chair across from Prue.

"You could have talked to him," Prue said defiantly, shaking her head in frustration. "You could have explained that we are good people. He wouldn't have betrayed us or anything." She stood up and began to pace.

"You don't know that," Leo said quietly. He winced as Prue shot him a furious glare. "Well, you don't," he defended himself.

"You're just as stuck up about exposure as every other Elder!" Prue snapped.

Leo frowned. "Exposure is what killed your Aunt Prue," he said pointedly. "Exposure is what almost got your mother burned at the stake. Exposure is what almost got Wyatt erased when he was younger. Whether you are willing to accept it or not, it is a serious threat."

Prue sighed and took a seat again. "I know," she said apologetically. "But I don't…" She paused for a moment, then continued, "I just don't like the idea of playing with Justin's memory. He's my boyfriend."

"I know, sweetheart. You want to protect him," Phoebe said swiftly, reaching out a hand to her daughter. "I understand what that is like. But you have to understand, you can't always do everything you want. And we've got so many things to worry about right now, we can't worry about Justin as well."

"Your mother is right," Leo added. "We need to worry about the Source. If we make it through that, then we can discuss the possibility of returning Justin's memory. Until then, we have to focus our efforts on saving the world."

"So basically the Greater Good comes first?" Prue said sullenly.

Leo and Phoebe stiffened and exchanged a glance. "Um…"

"What?" Prue asked, sharply, glancing between her mother and uncle. "What did I say?"

"Nothing," Leo said quickly. "I just need to…" He didn't even bother to finish the sentence, but got up and walked away quickly.

Prue sent her mother a confused look. "What did I do?"

"Nothing," Prue assured her. "It wasn't your fault." She got up and hurried out of the room after Leo, leaving Prue and Jason alone to talk.

The empath caught up with her brother-in-law on the stairs. "You okay?" she asked softly, reaching out a hand to stop him.

Leo looked at her for a moment, then sighed. "No," he said. "No, I'm really not." He ran a hand through his hair. "The whole reason that the Source is able to do this is because of the two different Chris'. That is the first link in timelines that he is playing with. If there had only been one Chris, none of this would even be an issue."

"Do you want there to have only been one Chris?" Phoebe asked, confused.

"If Wyatt had never been evil, there would only be one…"

Phoebe sighed. "But Wyatt was evil, Leo, and now he isn't. Having our family together and safe is worth dealing with whatever the Source throws at us."

"Unless we all die," Leo said glumly. He shook his head, then pointed out, "And we aren't all safe. One of my sons is dead."

Phoebe was silent, knowing there was nothing she could say to make the situation better.

* * *

The Seer stared in her pool, watching as Bianca and Chris removed the Hollow from its cavern and took it back to the Manor. She sighed and rubbed her eyes. "They have the Hollow," she said slowly, turning to the Source.

The Source shrugged. "We'll get it back," he replied confidently. "Right now we need to work on other aspects of the plan."

"Such as?" the Seer enquired, waving a hand over her pool and turning the water to black.

"The ceremony for using the Hollow in the way I have in mind requires the proper preparations. Is the Citadel prepared?" the Source asked, his black eyes flashing with flames.

"Almost," the Seer said with a pleased smile. "Almost."

* * *

Next Chapter: Of Demons and Angels

Due: Wed 5/17


	42. Of Demons and Angels

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: So, I'm not really sure how someone becomes an Elder. I know in the episode where the Charmed Ones all dressed up as superheroes, that boy became an Elder when the other Elder passed along his powers. And in Leo's case, it was after he did something miraculous and saved the world. So, for the sake of my story, I've decided that a person does not actually need to die to become an Elder, but once they become an Elder, all their friends and family think that they've died.

* * *

Chapter Forty-One: Of Demons and Angels

"Why was the Hollow removed from it's place?"

"The Charmed Ones determined it was for the best."

"They broke magical law? The _Charmed Ones_ broke magical law?"

"It was to protect the Hollow, to keep it from being released."

"Do we trust them?"

"Of course! How can you ask that?"

"Because the Hollow is guarded by both good and evil. To remove it from its place, they must have vanquished the good and evil watchers. They vanquished an _angel_."

"We do not know that. Perhaps they merely tricked the angel."

"Then they defied…"

"I know what they did. And I do not condone their actions. But I trust them. If they believe that it is for the best…"

"What do the Elders say?"

"They say nothing. They are worried about the Source. The end of everything is approaching."

"And how do we know the Hollow won't play a role in that?"

"The Charmed Ones removed it for its own protection…"

"I heard you the first time you said that. But that does not change the fact that the Hollow is now out in the open…"

"Hardly. It is Up There…"

"And all a demon would need is a white-lighter's powers, and…"

"I _trust_ the Charmed Ones."

"I hope, for all our sakes, your trust is not misplaced."

* * *

"Good removed the Hollow? How dare they break code?"

"I don't know. Do you think they intend to release it?"

"We will kill the Charmed Ones before they get the chance. We will kill the Elders as well if we have to. I want the Hollow returned to its place!"

"As do we all. But it is no easy task to vanquish the Charmed Ones. As I am sure you know…"

"They cannot get away with this."

"No, they can't."

"Where is the Hollow now?"

"My sources say it is with the Elders."

"Are your sources trustworthy?"

"As trustworthy as any demonic source can be."

"Then we have to get to the Elders. We have to find away to their plane of existence and take the Hollow back."

"We will need white-lighter powers."

"Then rally the dark-lighters. Tell them to get white-lighter power from anyone they can. They may go after the half-breed Halliwells if they wish, just bring me the power."

"Other demons are saying the same thing, organizing the same plan. It won't be long before we have retrieved the Hollow."

"Good."

"Should we consider the Tribunal?"

"The Tribunal?"

"They removed the middle sister's active powers when she abused them many years ago. If we inform them that the Charmed Ones have broken code…"

"Unless the two Elders on the Tribunal are on their side, in which case they will do nothing and give out no punishment."

"Do you think they are?"

"I don't know. But if they are not, this may be a chance to rid ourselves of the Charmed Ones once and for all. Yes, we should call them…"

* * *

"This is going to blow up in our faces," Bianca announced as she watched Chris pace back and forth across the room. They had given the Hollow to Kyle only moments before, and the white-lighter had orbed Up There to place the box in the safekeeping of the Elders. And already Bianca was nervous, worried about the possible backlash of their actions.

"We don't know that," Wyatt said. He was leaning against the wall near the doorway to the attic, watching the other two. Piper had left the attic a few minutes ago when Phoebe had appeared in the doorway and announced that somebody needed to talk to Leo. Prue and Jason were still talking, getting caught up on everything that Jason had missed. Paige was with her daughters, although Wyatt wasn't entirely sure what they were doing. Possibly training…

"I know it," Bianca snapped back. She rubbed her weary eyes. "I know it," she repeated in a softer tone.

"How?" Chris asked quietly, eyeing his girlfriend.

Bianca swallowed and shook her head. "I just…" She turned and looked at Chris. "Phoenixes survive for many reasons, but one of the main ones is that we inspire fear. Demons and witches go out of their way not to start feuds with us because they are afraid of the consequences. I've seen witches do really stupid things to avoid the wrath of my clan." She got up and walked over to the Book, resting her hand on the cover. "The Hollow inspires the same kind of fear, only more powerful. Someone is going to do something stupid because they are afraid. I don't know who, but I know that someone will…"

"You know a lot about inspiring fear," Wyatt commented mildly, his eyes narrowing as he watched Bianca open the cover of the Book and flip through the pages. Although he knew he should trust Chris' judgment, he still could not quite bring himself to accept the assassin witch as an ally.

Bianca looked up sharply. "What of it?" she asked heatedly.

"It was just a harmless comment," Wyatt said quickly, raising both hands in a show on innocence.

Bianca nodded and closed the cover of the Book. She stared at the symbol on the front for a moment, then said, "The power of three is restored."

Chris glanced at the triqueta. "Yeah, it is," he said.

"How did you know we lost it?" Wyatt demanded.

Bianca frowned at Wyatt. "Your mother told me when she was filling me in on what has happened since I last saw you. She didn't mention that the power was restored, however." Bianca frowned. "In fact, I thought Prue and your twin cousins had it."

"They did. I mean, they do," Chris hurried to assure her. "They called for it and…" He stared at the triqueta for a moment, then looked over at Wyatt. "Why would the triqueta reform when Mom and the Aunts got their powers unless they were the Charmed Ones?"

"Maybe they are," Wyatt muttered, unsure.

"But they don't have the power of three, not anymore," Chris objected.

"Well, perhaps it was only a temporary displacement," Wyatt mused. "Maybe Prue, Mel, and Pen only had the power until Mom and the Aunts got their powers back."

"What did the Elders say about that?" Bianca asked. "Did they tell you what would happen if your mother and her sisters got their powers back?"

Wyatt glanced over at Chris then sighed. "You know, I'm not sure anyone even informed the Elders that our cousins called for the power," he said at last. He replayed the last few weeks in his mind, trying to remember everything that had happened, and found that he could not remember any point when the Elders had been informed of the change in the power of three.

"You mean they weren't the ones who advised you to do it?" Bianca asked, confused.

"No, actually, the idea came from Sarina," Wyatt explained. "Although that turned out to be a bad idea…"

"Who's Sarina?" Bianca asked, glancing over at Chris.

"The High Priestess of the Khail," Chris replied distractedly, still looking at the triqueta, puzzled.

Bianca's eyebrows flew up quickly. She opened her mouth to say something, then paused and shook her head slowly. "Alright, so you took the advice of a demon without actually checking to see what the Elders thought of it?"

"It worked, didn't it?" Wyatt hissed.

"Yeah, except that now you have no idea who has the power of three. You might want to figure that out quickly, because it will come in handy later on."

Chris shot a look at Wyatt. "She's right, you know," he said slowly. "We should figure this out. You should tell Mom."

"Why don't you go," Wyatt replied, walking over to the Book. He squeezed in between Bianca and Chris and flipped the cover open. "Bianca and I can continue looking through the Book in the meantime."

Chris frowned, confusion evident in his features. Then comprehension dawned, and he flushed slightly with anger. "You don't trust me to be alone with Bianca. You think she's going to trick me, steal the Book, and leave."

"Of course not," Wyatt snapped back, although the slight red that suffused his face betrayed the lie.

"I'm not staying alone in a room with Wyatt," Bianca announced angrily.

"Why not? What are you afraid of?" Wyatt hissed. His eyes narrowed. "What are you hiding?"

"I'm not hiding anything and I am afraid of you killing me again," Bianca retorted. "You may not like the idea of working with someone with demonic powers, but I need hardly remind you that being half-angel didn't keep you from being the Source of All Evil also!"

"Bianca!" Chris spun around to face his girlfriend.

"What?" Bianca shot back. "He's prejudiced against me because I have demonic powers but it isn't like he's a saint!" She placed her hands on her hips and glared at the two Halliwells angrily. Then her gaze flickered to Wyatt. "_You_ don't get to cal me evil."

"Bianca, don't do this," Chris begged. "Don't start."

"I didn't start!"

"No, but you aren't helping either," Chris sighed, rubbing his weary eyes. "We have big problems in front of us, and the last thing we need is to have you two arguing."

Bianca nodded slowly, her eyes still smoldering with anger. "Fine," she said coldly. Her gaze softened slightly as she looked over at Chris. "Because _you_ asked me to."

* * *

"Leo, we can't change what happened," Piper said reasonably. "The only thing we can do is move forward. This isn't your fault, don't get pulled into that again," the witch begged, remembering the year that Leo had been targeted by the Avatars. Although she was fairly certain that her husband wasn't going to go off the deep end again, she still couldn't quite ignore the twisting in her stomach.

Leo, staring into Piper's eyes, seemed to know what she was thinking, and gave a slight smile. "I'm not going to go crazy again," he said reassuringly. "I promise."

"Oh, I know," Piper lied, blushing slightly. "I wasn't worried about that."

Leo shook his head, his eyes filled with laughter. "Sure you weren't," he answered, his tone tinged with the tiniest bit of sarcasm.

Piper ran a hand through her hair and said, "Alright, maybe I was a little. But only a very little."

Leo smiled and said sadly, "If I had just seen Gideon for what he was the first time around, none of this would have happened. There wouldn't have been two of Chris, the Source wouldn't have been able to play with the timelines like this…"

"It wasn't your fault. None of us knew," Piper pointed out reasonably.

"But Gideon was my friend, my mentor," Leo argued. "I _should_ have known."

"Look, the only two to blame here are Barbas and Gideon. None of it is your fault," Piper murmured softly.

"She's right, you know," a voice said.

Leo and Piper turned in surprise to see the Elder Nathaniel orb into the room. He was wearing traditional Elder robes, the golden fabric falling in folds around him.

"The Source will be trapped in hell for all eternity. Which means that he has forever to try and find a way out. And eventually he would have found another point of connection between two different timelines and exploited that, and it would have been some other witches problem to solve."

"So basically, what you are saying is that even if we defeat the Source now, he could still come back and win later?" Paige asked as she appeared in the room. "Well, that's just great," she added sarcastically.

Nathaniel gave her an appraising look. "You can't save the future before it's even been threatened. All you can do is protect the here and the now."

"Spoken like a true Elder," Paige quipped, and Nathaniel smiled.

Then he turned to Leo. "I came to warn you that there is talk of calling the Tribunal because the Hollow has been moved."

"The Tribunal?" Leo demanded. "But we moved the Hollow for its own protection!"

"The demons don't trust your motives," Nathaniel said, and someone has alerted the Tribunal to what has happened. We are doing out best to postpone the inevitable hearing, but I suggest you prepare to defend your actions. You may have to do that sooner than you realize."

"The Source is trying to bring about the end of the world!" Paige pointed out angrily. "I think that is proof enough that we are trying to protect the world."

"But do you have any proof of what the Source is trying to do?" Nathaniel asked. "Or is it all just suspicions?" There was a silence in the room, then Nathaniel sighed and said, "The Tribunal will not be convinced based on your opinion. I suggest you find something more concrete to give them."

"Great. Because what we really need is another problem right now," Paige muttered to herself. She turned and looked over at Piper. "How are we supposed to get proof? Piper? Piper…?"

But Piper wasn't looking at her, she was staring solely at Nathaniel, a look of horror on her face.

"Pratt?"

"Pratt? Wait, as in the Pratt that burned Phoebe as the stake?" Paige demanded, glancing between her oldest sister and the strange Elder. "You killed my sister?"

"That was a different person," Leo cut in swiftly. "A different person in a different timeline."

"I thought the essential person remained unchanged despite what timeline they were in," Paige shot back, her voice angry.

"They do," Nathaniel cut in. "You are right, I am the man who had your sister killed in a different timeline."

"And you dare to enter out house?" Piper snarled.

"Wait, why are you and Elder?" Paige asked. "If you are a murderer as well, how did you become an Elder?"

"I'm not a murderer in this timeline," Pratt said quietly, shooting a helpless glance at Leo. Leo just shrugged apologetically. Pratt sighed and switched his gaze to Piper. "Look, all I can say is that I honestly thought your sister was a threat to the world. I thought all witches were. After all, she killed someone."

"Cal Greene deserved to die," Piper snapped back.

"That isn't a decision you get to make," Pratt murmured. "Your job is to protect the innocent, not punish the guilty."

"No, that's what you do," Piper retorted bitterly.

"How do you know all that about your other self?" a voice asked, and all eyes turned to see Phoebe appear in the hallway. She was staring at Pratt with a strange look on her face, a combination of anger and… was it understanding?

"When I became an Elder, the other Elders were able to show me a little bit of the other life," Pratt said slowly. "It was shortly after you two and Prue had traveled to the future, and the Elders wanted to make sure that I didn't follow that path."

"I didn't realize that the Elders had the ability to see other timelines," Paige asked curiously.

"Only in unique situations. They were able to then because when your sisters traveled to the future, it created a temporary portal between the two worlds, and they exploited that." Nathaniel paused, then continued, "I was made an Elder after the incident with the Avatars. The Elders were suffering, first from the Titans, then from the Avatars, and they needed help."

"So you died?"

"Oh, no," Nathaniel replied, glancing over at Piper. "You don't need to die to become an Elder. It isn't like a white-lighter." He paused. "Although, I guess I am dead now… at least, everyone thinks that I am dead." He shrugged. "That's the price you pay to help save the world."

"What did you do that made the Elders want you?" Phoebe asked. Unlike Paige and Piper, she harbored less anger for the man who had tried to kill her in a different future. She knew what she had done was wrong, and that, although she did not deserve to die, Pratt had taught her a valuable lesson. They had both made mistakes, and if Pratt had learned from his mistakes and become a better person, then she couldn't harbor much of a grudge. He hadn't been evil, just misguided.

"I don't know," Nathaniel answered honestly. "I guess they saw qualities in me that they liked."

"Dedication to a cause, perseverance, ambition…" Leo glanced over at Pratt, "Ambition that was fortunately tempered by wisdom at that point."

"I had lived through two harrowing experiences and gained a little perspective on life," Pratt explained. His eyes clouded over for a moment. "In the other timeline, my daughter didn't die so early, and my wife didn't divorce me. I guess those two experiences made me who I am today, and not who I would have been in that timeline."

"So no we are expected to work with you?" Paige asked bitterly.

"You can't harbor a grudge against him for something he didn't do," Leo said logically, sending Paige a warning glance.

Paige gave a short, ironic chuckle. "He would have done it," she muttered under her breath.

"And Wyatt would have been evil," Nathaniel replied.

"_Don't_ bring him into this," Piper threatened, her eyes blazing.

"I'm just saying…"

"You killed my sister and family always comes first," Piper continued, ignoring Nathaniel's efforts to speak.

"Not when the entire world is at stake!" Nathaniel shot back. "You don't get to hold a grudge if it mean putting us all in danger."

There was a tense silence in the room while they two Elders regarded the three sisters. Then Leo broke the silence, changing the subject and asking, "Where are the kids?"

"Chris and Wyatt are in the attic with Bianca, and I think Prue just went to join them," Phoebe answered quickly. "Jason left a moment ago, but I don't know where Kyle and the twins are."

"Mel and Pen are still training in the basement," Paige cut in. "I don't think Kyle's returned from Up There."

"He's still Up There trying to figure out what to do about the Tribunal," Nathaniel said wearily. "It seems we have more problems than solutions."

"We always do," Piper replied. She turned to leave, pushing past Nathaniel as she went, but he reached out and grabbed her arm, stopping her. She swung around to face him, her expression hard. "If you're expecting me to forgive you…"

"I'm not," the Elder interrupted swiftly. Piper paused, and he took the moment to continue, "I'm not asking for your forgiveness. I just… We are going to have to work together to stop the Source. Don't let your anger at me jeopardize the world."

"I won't," Piper said icily. "I worked with Gideon, I can work with you. But unless you have to discuss work related issues with us, you aren't welcome in my house."

* * *

"Hey, what's going on?" Prue asked as she walked into the attic. The tension in the air was so thick that, for a moment, she wondered if someone had just been revealed as evil. The witch's gaze went automatically to Bianca, but the Phoenix was still looking at Chris, and didn't meet Prue's gaze.

Wyatt turned and nodded to his cousin. "Everything's fine, Prue."

"Sure," Prue rolled her eyes and stepped further into the room. She glanced over at Chris, and looked away, suddenly remembering everything she had done in the other timeline, how she had betrayed him. He had told her what she had done, but it was different now because she had seen it, lived it, remembered it…

And it hurt too much to look at the cousin she had betrayed.

"We were actually just trying to figure out who has the power of three," Bianca explained, tearing his eyes away from Chris and glancing at Prue. "I'm Bianca, by the way."

"I know who you are," Prue replied with nod. "It's nice to finally meet you."

"And you," Bianca replied, grateful that at least Prue seemed accepting of her. One less person to have to convince…

"I should talk to Mom," Wyatt said suddenly, turning and leaving the room abruptly.

Bianca watched him go, then looked over at Chris. "I don't think he likes me," she said dryly.

"Well, you did bait him," Chris snapped. "Could you at least try to get along with him?"

"I'm not the one who started this! He accused me of being evil," Bianca retorted.

"And you replied by accusing him of the same thing," Chris pointed out tiredly.

"I…"

"Look," Chris cut in, "can we not do this right now? Wyatt's gone to talk to my mother about who has the power of three, and we need to figure out the next step now that we've secured the Hollow."

"And we need to figure out what we are going to do when the magical community rebels against us because we took the Hollow," Bianca replied.

"What?" Prue asked. She had missed the early discussion about the Hollow, and was lost in the conversation. "What do you mean? We have the Hollow? Where is it? And why do we have it? And why will people rebel?"

"I don't know if they will," Chris argued, glancing over at Bianca. "They might, but…"

"They will," Bianca said. "It isn't a matter of if, it's a matter of when. Our only chance is to try and fix this entire problem before everything goes downhill."

"Pessimistic, much?" Prue asked sarcastically.

"Look," Bianca said in exasperation, "all I am saying is that someone on our side is going to be scared that the Hollow was removed, and that witch, leprechaun, fairy, nymph, or whatever, is going to do something stupid in an effort to fix the perceived problem." She paused and looked over at Chris with conviction. "And it is going to blow up in our face."

* * *

"What do you want, witch?"

"I want the same thing you want, demon. I want the Hollow returned to its rightful spot. I want the world safe again."

"I'm listening."

"I know you contacted the Tribunal. And I know that you hope they will order the Hollow returned to its spot. But if the Elders are in favor of keeping the Hollow Up There, the Tribunal might not be our best course of action."

"Aren't you supposed to be on the same side as the Elders?"

"I don't know what game they are playing at, but I don't want the world to end, and I am not taking the risk of that happening."

"So what do you propose?"

"You can steal powers."

"Yes."

"I can call for my white-lighter, and you can steal his orbing power. You can orb Up There and bring the Hollow back."

"You trust me to do that?"

"I trust that you don't want the Hollow released."

"Very well, witch. Meet me back here tonight, and we shall retrieve the Hollow."

The witch nodded and walked away.

Another demon appeared.

"You work with witches now?"

"My Liege… There were rumors that you had returned, but I hardly dared to hope that they were true."

"They were. That is why Good has taken the Hollow. They hope to use it to absorb my powers and vanquish me again. But they are fools if they think they can control the Hollow."

"We will get it back tonight, my Liege, and they will not be able to vanquish you."

"I do not trust them now that they have broken the code once. They may come after the Hollow again."

"Then we will hide it somewhere that they can never find it, my Liege."

"Good. I have just the place in mind. When the witch comes tonight, when you take the Hollow from the Elders, I have a place for you to bring it to. A Citadel…"

"As you wish, my Liege."

* * *

Next Chapter: And It All Comes Crashing Down

Due: Wed 5/24


	43. And It All Comes Crashing Down

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's Note: When I sat down to write this chapter, I had no intention of having a character death in it. But then my fingers just started typing, and the chapter wrote itself. So I apologize that I was not able to warn you in advance, but I'll give the warning now:

Someone dies in this chapter.

That's also why the chapter is so late, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to not kill anyone off. But it didn't work, so bring some tissues with you.

Also, Matt appears again, so I thought I would remind you all that he is a Phoenix, and Bianca's best friend. He was like a protective older brother to her, and he was the only one besides Bianca, Chris, and Lynn who knew that Bianca and Chris were secretly dating for two years.

* * *

Chapter Forty-Two: And It All Comes Crashing Down

_Oh, I've seen fire and I've seen rain  
I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end  
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend  
But I always thought that I'd see you, baby, one more time again_

_-James Taylor "Fire and Rain"_

The witch looked around nervously. Night had fallen, and the moon cast a faint glow. Shadows moved everywhere, and the witch looked around in apprehension. His dark hair fell over scared but determined eyes, and his hands were clenched into fists at his side.

A dark-lighter appeared, black orbs swirling in the air. He held his crossbow loosely in one hand, and he stared at the witch in silence. Behind him, two demons appeared. They too stood silently, like statues.

"Do it," the dark-lighter ordered.

The witch stared at the dark-lighter for a moment. Then he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. This was for the greater good, he reminded himself. This was the only way to safely remove the Hollow. This was unfortunate, but necessary.

He swallowed and called out, "Kyle!"

A moment later, Kyle orbed into the scene. He glanced over at his charge, expecting the witch to be hurt, and was surprised to find that he was uninjured. Confusion marred his features, but before he could ask why he had been called, he heard the unmistakable sound of a release mechanism being fired, and felt a white-hot searing pain shoot through him as an arrow imbedded itself in his back.

"Alex…" Kyle groaned as he fell to the floor, his powers and life quickly draining away. He looked up at his charge, his eyes wide with horror. "Why…?"

Alex bit his lip and didn't answer. He shook his head and looked away as one of the demons stepped forward and placed his hand on Kyle's chest. A white light left Kyle and flowed upward through the demon's palm and along his arm, burring itself somewhere in his chest. He backed away slowly and closed his eyes, focusing on the strange new power coursing through his demonic blood.

He smirked and opened his eyes, glancing over at the other demon and the dark-lighter. "It worked," he said in satisfaction.

"Is he dead?" Alex asked, looking down at Kyle. The white-lighter seemed to be alive, although not by much. His breathing was hollow and raspy, and the color had drained from his face.

"He's still alive," the dark-lighter answered. "But not for long."

"I'm sorry, Kyle," Alex whispered. "But this is for the greater good. I have to do this." He looked away from his dying white-lighter and said in a stronger voice, "Take me Up There with you. We can return the Hollow to its rightful place together."

The two demons looked at each other, seeming to consider this request, and then the first demon shook his head and said, "I have a different idea." And with a casual wave of his hand, he sent a fireball at the unsuspecting witch, incinerating him.

The second demon smirked and stretched out his hand towards his companion. The dark-lighter took the demon's other hand, and the three orbed out of sight.

Kyle watched them go as the world around him slowly faded. "Paige…" he whispered, wondering if she could hear him. "Mel, Pen… love you…"

* * *

Paige turned away from Piper, Phoebe, Leo, and Nathaniel as a sharp pain flashed through her chest. She took a breath, hesitant and unsure, and swallowed back the panic that threatened to overwhelm her.

"Paige?" Piper was the first to notice the odd expression on her sister's face and quickly demanded an answer. "Are you alright?"

Paige turned her gaze to Piper and the fear drained away. Her instincts and common sense sprung to action, and she quickly called out, "Pen! Mel! Kyle!" Phoebe shot her a confused look, and the witch-lighter said simply, "Someone is in danger."

Mel and Pen both orbed in a moment later, looking at their mother in confusion. Paige breathed a sigh of relief that they were safe, but the relief was short lived when she realized that Kyle had not answered her summon.

"Kyle!" Paige called again, hysteria evident in her voice. She could feel that something was very wrong, and it terrified her. Where was her husband?

Mel and Pen exchanged worried looks and called in unison, "Dad!"

No answer.

Leo and Nathaniel both closed their eyes and focused on locating the missing white-lighter, but they could barely get a read on him. He was fading, and fast. Perhaps too fast for them to save him, especially since they couldn't get a location for him.

Leo turned to Paige. "Keep calling for him. Piper, Phoebe, try scrying. I'm going to check with the other Elders, see if anyone else knows where he is." Leo glanced over at Nathaniel. "Keep trying to find him," he requested, then orbed away.

He reappeared among the clouds and mist. He barely had a glimpse of the wreckage all around him, destroyed columns and dead bodies, before something hit him in the back and he crumpled to the ground.

"Piper…" he breathed softly, his words barely audible.

The dark-lighter stepped over Leo's fallen body and walked to a set of large doors. He pulled them open and looked at the room within. It was large, and made of white marble and crystal. Rows of chairs lined the walls, creating a circle. In the very center of the room, sitting on a white marble table, was the box that held the Hollow. 

The dark-lighter lifted the box from its table and rejoined his companions outside. He frowned and glanced at the bodies around him.

"Only twelve dead Elders? Where are all the others?" he asked.

The first demon shrugged. "They may have escaped when we first attacked. Or perhaps they are in hiding." He looked greedily at the Hollow. "It is no matter, we have what we came for."

"But we could kill the other Elders," the dark-lighter objected, sniffing the air. "I can sense them, they are hiding somewhere. Somewhere on Earth…"

"We must return the Hollow to the Source," the second demon objected. "Those were his orders." He paused and licked his lips. "Besides, rumors are flowing through the Underworld that the Tribunal has decided to call the Charmed Ones for a hearing. They will lose their powers soon enough, and all of Good will be at our mercy then."

The dark-lighter sighed and nodded reluctantly, handing the box over to the first demon. "Shall we go to the citadel? The Source will be waiting for us there," he suggested, and the three orbed out.

Leo closed his eyes as the pain spread through him, paralyzing him. He silently prayed that someone would find him before he died, so that he could at least pass along the information that he had just learned.

Before it was too late.

* * *

_Piper._

Wyatt paused suddenly as the soft word floated through the hallway. He was on his way downstairs to rejoin his parents and Aunts, when he heard the word.

So soft, so faint.

His father's voice.

Had he imagined it?

He didn't know and he didn't care. If something had happened to his Dad…

He summoned Excalibur and orbed out at the same time.

When he materialized fully, his heart plummeted in his chest. The ruins of Up There stretched before him, burnt and bloody. Several Elders were dead, their bodies slumped at odd angles across the floor.

"Dad?" Wyatt shouted, looking around quickly. "Dad? Where are you?" His heart hammered faster as he dropped to his knees by one dead Elder and pushed him onto his back so that he could identify the man. It wasn't Leo.

"Please don't be dead…" Wyatt prayed. He tried to sense for Leo again, but it was so faint… "Dad!"

_Wy…_

Wyatt spun around. He wasn't sure if he had heard the voice of just imagined it. It hadn't sounded like his father, hadn't even sounded real. More like a ghost, or a figment of his imagination… Unbidden, thoughts of the spectral Melinda came to mind.

"Who's there?" Wyatt called out.

For a moment, silence was all that answered him.

_Don't give up…_

That was clearly his father's voice. And yet it was also not his father. It was distorted, as though it had been recorded, but the tracks had become scratched over time. The words were halting, jarring…

_You either…_

Wyatt spun around and stared in silent shock at the scene before his eyes. It was as though he was looking at a hologram, a flickering scene of his brother lying on a bed, a knife wound in his stomach. Leo bent over him, tears streaming down his face.

The images flickered once more, then faded, and where the ghost of Chris had been, Wyatt found himself staring at his father.

"Dad!"

Wyatt ran to Leo's side, dropping to his knees beside the still form. He let Excalibur fall from his grasp as he extended his hands over the arrow wound in Leo's back. The golden glow extended from his finger tips, spreading out along Leo's back. Wyatt closed his eyes and concentrated all his power on healing, but Leo's life was slipping away too quickly.

Refusing to give up, Wyatt blinked back the tears that stung at his eyes and forced every last bit of energy he had out of his palms. His vision became blurry and faded as he fought against the dark poison flowing through his father's veins. He was using too much magic, even for one as powerful as himself, and it was taking all of his energy to keep the healing magic flowing from his hands.

"Don't do this, Dad," he muttered. "Don't…"

The last of his strength gave out as he collapsed forward, the darkness overwhelming him. He slumped over, unconscious before he had a chance see his father's eyes open.

Leo groaned and shifted the heavy weight off of him. He stared in shock as he realized that it was his eldest son collapsed on the white marble floor, then quickly reached out his hands to heal him.

* * *

Paige watched as Piper's crystal landed on the map. She ran to her sister's side, almost pushing Piper away in her haste, and glanced at the location. Without another word, she orbed away. Mel and Pen orbed after their mother, leaving Piper and Phoebe in the room together.

"Hey!" Piper yelled at the ceiling. "Some of us can't orb!"

"I'll take you," Nathaniel offered, extending his hand to Piper.

Piper stared at him, her expression unreadable. The first thought that entered her mind was to blow him up, but she hesitated, knowing it would take too long to get to Paige if they were forced to drive.

But Phoebe had already pushed past Piper and taken hold of Nathaniel's hand. She looked back at Piper, her gaze unwavering, silently asking Piper to get over her hatred long enough to get to Paige.

Piper sighed and grabbed Nathaniel's other hand, and the three orbed out.

They reappeared in a park. It was dark, the moon had disappeared behind a cloud, but they could make out Paige's shadow. She was standing completely still, staring down at something in front of her, which Piper realizing with a sinking heart was Kyle's body. Mel and Pen kneeled next to him. Mel's hair fell in front of her face, masking her expression, but Pen's eyes were filled with anguish.

"Paige?" Phoebe took a step forward cautiously.

Nathaniel hurried over to Kyle and knelt down, ready to heal him, but Paige's choked voice stopped him.

"It's too late."

Phoebe inhaled sharply and scrambled to Paige's side. "Paige…"

Paige turned to look at her sisters. Her eyes were dry, her expression blank. Her mouth was set in a straight line, and her skin had almost no color. Only her voice betrayed her inner grief, as it cracked when she replied, "We're t-too late."

Piper knelt down beside her nieces, wrapping one arm around Pen. She reached out for Mel, but the young witch-lighter shrugged her aunt's arm away and stood up. She stared at her mother for a moment, then looked down at her father again. Her eyes were unreadable.

And then she was gone, disappearing in a swirl of orbs.

* * *

"They have the Hollow?" Piper asked unemotionally as she took a seat on the sofa.

Leo nodded. "They massacred the Elders that were up there. If Wyatt hadn't found me…"

"Don't," Piper interrupted. "Don't finish that sentence. I can't… I can't think about…" Her bloodshot eyes filled with tears again and she looked away.

"How's Aunt Paige?" Chris asked, glancing behind him at the stairs. Paige had disappeared up then only a few moments prior.

"She's…" Piper shook her head. "She's with Pen right now."

"Where's Mel?" Phoebe asked as she entered the room.

"She's on the Golden Gate Bridge," Wyatt said, looking up from his seat by the window. "When I went to get her, she used her telekinesis to throw me off of it."

"She could be in danger," Phoebe murmured worriedly.

"I know," Piper said. "But she won't come home right now. What are we supposed to do?"

"Nathaniel's keeping an eye on her," Leo said, half-reassuringly. "He's on the Bridge right now, invisible so that she can't see him."

Phoebe nodded, her expression wooden.

"Where's Prue?" Piper asked, turning her attention to her sister.

Phoebe sighed and sat down, flicking a few stray hairs out of her eyes. "She's on the phone with Jason." She swallowed and shook her head. "I think he's on his way over here now."

A silence descended on them all, no one knowing what to say.

* * *

"I need your help."

Matt looked up from his book, startled, as Bianca shimmered into the room unannounced. Her expression was grim, her eyes filled with sorrow. Instant worry swelled up inside of Matt, and he asked quickly, "What happened? What's wrong?"

"I don't have time to explain," Bianca replied. "I need you to go underground and find out where the Hollow is."

"I thought the Charmed Ones stole it?" Matt said, somewhat bitterly. "Which, by the way, I'm assuming they have a really good explanation for? Even the Phoenixes have been worried."

"Demons stole it back," Bianca explained wearily. "They have it somewhere in the Underworld, and we have to get it before they use it."

"Use it? To do what?" Matt demanded. "And are you sure we want to give it back to the Charmed Ones? It's too dangerous to…"

"Look, I don't have time for this!" Bianca snapped angrily. She knew that Matt's questions were perfectly logical questions, and that he was only trying to look out for the safety of himself and his clan. She had expected nothing else from him, but her patience had worn thin.

When Leo and Wyatt had orbed into the attic to announce that the Hollow had been stolen, Bianca's first thought was that they needed to plan a counterattack, and quickly. Chris seemed to be thinking along the same lines, but all thoughts of strategy had flown from his mind when Piper walked into the room and announced that Kyle was dead.

Bianca had discreetly excused herself from the scene, knowing her presence would not be welcome at the present moment. And since the Halliwells would be preoccupied with grieving for the next several hours, she had taken it upon herself to start a search for the Hollow immediately so that no time would be wasted.

"Bianca?" Matt asked, confused.

Bianca shook her head in frustration and pent up anger at the unfairness of the situation. "Chris' uncle was killed by a dark-lighter. The demons murdered several of the elders. The Source is going to use the Hollow to bring about the end of the world, and the Tribunal is debating calling the Charmed Ones to trial. I don't have time for your doubts!"

Matt bit his lip, then sighed and said, "Well, then you probably don't want to hear this, but actually, the Tribunal has come to a decision already. They're going to demand an audience with the Charmed Ones to discuss the consequences of their actions."

"What?" Bianca hissed. "Now? But…" She slammed her fist into the wall. "Damn it!" She turned back to Matt and narrowed her eyes. "How do you know that?"

"I keep my ears to the ground," Matt said simply, and Bianca nodded in understanding. Among Phoenixes, that phrase meant that they had spies somewhere, keeping an eye on what was going on. Centuries of experience had taught them that the best way to win a fight was to attack before the other opponent even realized you were on to them, and the only way to do that was to infiltrate the magic community wherever necessary. If the Phoenixes had gotten wind of the Tribunal's debate, they would have most certainly have felt the need to stay informed of the decisions, and would have found a way to manage it.

They were good at that.

"I can't believe the Tribunal would do this," Bianca muttered.

"Well, stealing the Hollow was a stupid idea," Matt snapped. Bianca spun on him, but he continued speaking before she had a chance to say anything. "It was, and you know it."

"It was the only way," Bianca replied, finding it ironic as she did that she was defending the actions she had been so opposed to before.

"Maybe," Matt consented. "I don't know the details of the plan, so obviously I can't judge it. But doing what they did was bound to have consequences, and they should have been prepared for that."

Bianca nodded slowly. "Well, what's done is done, and we can't change that," she said at last. "But we need to find the Hollow before the Source uses it."

Matt raised an eyebrow. "And you want me to do that?" he asked.

"Get together some other Phoenixes," Bianca instructed. "Go underground. Infiltrate, lie, cheat, kill… I don't care. Just find it!"

"So we can give it back to the Charmed Ones…" Matt shook his head. "I don't trust them, Bianca. Not with the Hollow. It's just too dangerous."

Bianca stared at him, meeting his unwavering gaze. "Then trust me," she said quietly, challenging him to refuse.

"Fine," Matt relented. He stood up, prepared to shimmer away, then paused and looked over at his friend. "When you see Chris… tell him… tell them all that… I'm sorry about their uncle."

Bianca swallowed and nodded, knowing it was as much approval as Matt… as any of the Phoenixes… would offer to her relationship with Chris.

Matt shimmered out of the room.

* * *

Next Chapter: Unwanted Memories

Due: Tue 6/13


	44. Unwanted Memories

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: The lyrics at the beginnong of the chapter are from _Breaking the Habit_ by Linkin Park. _Italics _are memories.

* * *

Chapter Forty-Three: Unwanted Memories

_Memories consume  
like opening the wound,  
I'm picking me apart again. _

_She had played him._

_Chris stormed angrily through the ruins of San Francisco, his fury and pain blinding him to everything else around him._

_She had played him._

_She showed up at the Resistance with her pretty face and a sob story about her clan having been attacked by Wyatt's demons, and he fell for it. He taken her in, introduced her to everyone, showed her around the stronghold. He'd told her his thoughts and feelings, he told her his secrets. He gave her his heart, falling for her, and falling hard._

_And she had played him._

"_Chris!" _

_Chris barely even stopped to listen to the person shouting at him. He knew it was Patricia, his cousin had followed him since he had left the base after having learned of Bianca's betrayal. He could sense her, but he didn't slow down. He didn't want to talk to her, didn't want to talk to anyone._

_How could he have been so _stupid

"_Chris, stop!" Ria called, chasing after her cousin. "Chris, please! Listen to me."_

_Chris spun around angrily. "Why? So you can tell me what an idiot I was for trusting her? You said all along that you thought there was something wrong with her, and I ignored it. I ignored you and she… she…" He bit his lip to keep from screaming in frustration._

_He wanted to strangle her. He wanted to rip every hair out of her head. He wanted to hurt her like she had hurt him, wanted to tear her heart out and trample all over it._

_Because, damn it, he had loved her._

_And she used him._

"_Chris, this wasn't your fault. There is no one here to blame but Bianca," Ria countered, spitting out the Phoenix's name with hatred._

_Chris gave a hollow laugh. "I told her what she wanted to know and let her run back to Wyatt. He'll kill us all now, and it is _completely_ my fault." And he orbed away, taking care to block his signal so that his cousin couldn't follow him._

"Chris? Chris, are you alright?"

Chris snapped back to the present, confused to see Wyatt leaning over him, a look of concern on his face. The brunette shook his head slowly, ridding himself of the unwanted thoughts, and muttered, "Yeah, I'm okay."

"You looked like you'd seen a ghost," Wyatt said softly, taking a seat next to Chris on the bed. They were in Chris' room in the Manor. Piper and Phoebe were still downstairs talking. Paige had managed to convince Mel to come back, but the young witch-lighter had locked herself in the basement and refused to speak to anyone. Pen was up in the attic, flipping through the Book of Shadows with Leo, trying to keep her mind off what had just happened. Jason had arrived moments ago, and a sobbing Prue had collapsed in his arms.

"Not a ghost," Chris replied. "More like a memory." Chris collapsed back on the bed and closed his eyes, feeling the tears prick. He drew a shaky breath as his mind wandered back to sight of Kyle's body, pale and lifeless. Well, the white-lighter technically wasn't alive even before the dark-lighter had shot him, but now… he looked so…

Wyatt reached out to place a hand on Chris' shoulder, but he shrugged it off and shoved himself back off the bed. "I'm going to check the Book," he said abruptly.

"Pen and Dad are looking at it," Wyatt objected. "You don't need to…"

"Yes, I do," Chris snapped. "I need to do _something_."

"Why not try grieving," Wyatt suggested. "Or talking? Mel's already shut herself off, and Aunt Paige won't talk to anyone either, we don't need you to…"

"I don't have anything to talk about," Chris replied. "Uncle Kyle is dead. And I'll grieve for him later. But right now we still have to stop the Source."

"Chris, don't do this," Wyatt protested angrily, placing a hand out to stop Chris from leaving the room. "Don't shut us out. This isn't you."

"Yes, it is!" Chris spat, shoving Wyatt's arm away again. "This is _exactly_ who I am and I need to look at the Book."

"No, this is who the other Chris was," Piper said, appearing at the doorway to the room. "The other Chris would check the Book when ever he was upset, would stay tightlipped about everything, wouldn't share his feelings. Honey, you need to talk to us…"

"I am the other Chris, too!" Chris yelled. "Don't you _get_ that? You _can't_ just expect me to forget all those memories I saw, all the ones I am still remembering _now_!" He shoved his way past his brother and mother and stormed out of the room and up the stairs, leaving two stunned family members in his wake.

Reaching the attic door, he pushed it open and stepped into the room. Leo and Pen looked up at him expectantly, and as he stared at their faces he saw something else, another memory from another time.

"_So this is all I was?" Chris asked, his voice catching in his throat as he stared at Bianca in shock and disbelief. His eyes traveled down to the athame in her hand, the one she was holding in front of her, prepared to throw at him. "A… target?"_

"_Yes," Bianca said coldly, but her hand shook as she clenched the athame and her breath came in uneven gasps._

"_And when you kissed me? When you said you loved me? Was that all pretend as well?" Chris spat, stepping towards her, anger making him reckless._

"_You were an assignment, Chris. Find you, use you, kill you. Nothing more," Bianca retorted._

"_So that's it?" Chris asked in disbelief, still unwilling to let go of the woman he thought he loved._

_Bianca looked up at him, her expression unreadable. "Yes, Chris. That's it." The Phoenix paused, looking away towards the East where the sun was rising. "That's it," she repeated, her voice softer._

_Chris took a step back, hurt beyond words at Bianca's cold demeanor. He swallowed the painful lump in his throat and lashed out at her, using his telekinesis to throw her off her feet. Caught unawares, the Phoenix flew through the air, but managed to land easily in a crouch a few feet behind where she had been standing before. Chris glared at her, then orbed away, wanting to put as much distance in between himself and the woman he thought he had known._

_If he had waited a minute longer, he would have seen the single tear that made its solitary way down Bianca's cheek. _

"Chris? Son, are you okay?" Leo was standing in front of Chris, wearing exactly the same concerned expression on his face that Wyatt had worn only moments before. And Chris, suddenly realizing that he didn't want to stay in this house, didn't want to continually have to deal with people asking him if he was alright, orbed away.

* * *

Nathaniel orbed into the empty sunroom in the Manor and looked around. He spotted Phoebe sitting in the dining room, resting her head in her hands and propping her elbows up on the table. Approaching her slowly, he said, "Phoebe?" 

She looked up, startled. Her eyes were rimmed with red, her face streaked with tears. She forced herself to greet the Elder with a choked, "Hey," before turning and staring back at the smooth table top, as though the polished wood would give her answers.

"I'm so sorry…" Nathaniel murmured, knowing his words were meaningless. What could he say to console this family? They had been through so much, and Kyle was just as much a part of the Halliwell clan as any of the sisters. How could he comfort them?

Phoebe gave a dark chuckle. "I'm sure you are," she replied. "Kyle was a great white-lighter." Her words were bitter, she remembered the numerous times that the Elders had called Kyle or Leo away from the family for hours on end because of some evil somewhere in the world that needed to be stopped.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Nathaniel said, trying to indicate that he thought of Kyle as more than just a white-lighter.

Phoebe looked up at him. "What are you doing here?" she asked at last. "You said once Mel was safely back you needed to check with the Elders."

"Yes…" Nathaniel paused. He didn't want to be the bearer of more bad news, but he knew he had to tell them. "The Tribunal came to a conclusion…"

Phoebe groaned and buried her head in her hands once again. "What did they decide?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

"They've requested a trial. You three are to report to them in two hours. I'm to take you there," Nathaniel said hesitantly, bracing himself for the explosion he knew would come.

And sure enough…

"Paige just lost her _husband_, Mel and Pen lost their _father_!" Phoebe cried, jumping to her feet. "We _lost_ our brother-in-law and the Tribunal wants us to come to their stupid trial? You _have_ _got_ to be kidding me!"

"Phoebe…"

"No! NO! How dare they? After everything we have gone through to keep magic safe and protected, everything we have lost in this fight… How _dare_ they?"

"We can't stop them," Nathaniel said quickly. "I wish we could, but we can't, Phoebe, we just can't." He reached out to place his hand on her shoulder but she flinched away from him and stepped backwards.

"No," she said again, this time in a quieter voice. "No!"

"If you don't go, they will take away your powers and we won't be able to stop the Source. He will end the world and then Kyle's death will have meant _nothing_! Is that what you want?" Nathaniel argued, knowing bringing Kyle into this discussion was a cheap trick. But he had to make them understand, they couldn't postpone this.

"Don't you dare bring him into this," Phoebe snarled. She turned and stalked away from the Elder and Nathaniel closed his eyes in frustration.

They were running out of time.

* * *

"…and I can't even talk to Chris," Prue finished, tears slipping down her cheeks. She and Jason were sitting on the bed in Piper and Leo's room. Jason had spoken to Phoebe for a few moments, but his soon-to-be ex-wife didn't seem to want to talk to him, and Prue had been hysterical, so he had decided to try to comfort his daughter instead. 

"Why can't you talk to Chris?" Jason asked.

"Because I betrayed him," Prue explained in frustration. She jumped to her feet and began to pace back and forth across the floor of the room. "He's my family, my cousin, and I sold him out to Wyatt to save my own skin. Who does that? What kind of person does that to her own _family_?"

Jason, have finally understood that the reference was to a different Prue in a different timeline, said swiftly, "That wasn't you, Prue. That was someone else."

"It _was_ me," Prue replied, wiping a few stray tears away. "It was _me_. I did it. I remember doing it, I remember how crushed Chris looked when he realized what I had done. I _remember_!"

"And the fact that you are so appalled by it now shows that you aren't that person anymore. Not in this timeline," Jason pointed out reasonably.

Prue looked over at him, shaking her head slowly. "Why did I do it then?" she whispered. "Why? How? I don't understand."

Jason stood up and reached out, taking Prue's hand and pulling her towards him. He hugged her tightly and said, "Things were different in that timeline, Prue. Everyone was different. You, Chris, Wyatt… You were living in a destroyed world where your greatest enemy was your own cousin. You can't judge that version of yourself based on this world because it is so different."

"I'm so scared, Dad," Prue murmured, her voice muffled slightly. "I'm so scared that I'll wake up find out that I really am that person and that I've betrayed everyone. I'm so scared…"

"I know," Jason said gently, running his hands through Prue's hair. "I know."

"_You betrayed him," Bianca snarled as she backhanded Prue. "You could have gotten him killed, you almost did!"_

_Prue stumbled backwards and reached up to touch her lip, tasting blood in her mouth. There was very little in this broken world that scared Prue, but looking up into the dark eyes of the enraged Phoenix, she wondered suddenly if she was going to die that night._

_Her temper flared. "You did, too! You betrayed all of us. _I_ was trying to save the world, but when _you_ sold the Resistance out to Wyatt, you were just trying to gain _prestige_," Prue spat._

"_I never told Wyatt anything that I learned," Bianca countered, her face flushed with embarrassment and fury. "I never…"_

"_You wanted to," Prue interrupted. "You came to me on the stairs in that shopping mall pretending to be on my side. You convinced Chris that you could help him, you made him _fall in love _with you, and all you wanted was to turn him over to Wyatt so that you could…"_

_Bianca hit Prue again, and the witch fell to the ground._

"_Shut up!" Bianca spat. "I screwed up, I _know_ that. But I was willing to admit it when I realized that I was wrong, and I came back to you all and asked for _forgiveness_." She drew a sharp breath, remembering how much it had galled her pride to have to ask someone, anyone, to forgive her for being wrong. "I did it because I loved him and I cared about all of you."_

"_Yeah, right," Prue snapped, pulling herself back to her feet. "Or you just realized that Wyatt wasn't the great Lord you thought he was and so you came crawling back."_

"_I worked as a spy for you all, I saved you life on numerous occasions, and I risked everything to get Chris out of Wyatt's clutches when _you_ sold him out," Bianca said in a softer, but no less angry, voice. "How could you do that to your own cousin?"_

"_Wyatt wouldn't have hurt him," Prue countered._

_Bianca gave a hollow laugh. "If you really believe that, then you are as much a fool as you are a traitor," she replied, then shimmered away._

_Prue stared at the spot where Bianca had stood, and wondered if the Phoenix was right._

"Prue?"

Prue looked up at her father's concerned eyes. "I was just thinking of one of the dreams I had," she said softly. "One I don't really want to remember…"

* * *

"_When I first met you, when I realized that you were a witch, the only thing that went through my mind was that you could help me find the Avatars and vanquish them. And then I got to know, and you showed me that I had been holding on to my anger over my parents death for too long. I needed to move on with my life, because my parents wouldn't have wanted me to stay forever trapped in the memory of their deaths." Kyle paused for a moment and took a breath, looking out over the city at the distant rising sun. He and Paige were standing on a tower of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was cold, the air was damp with dew, and the wind blew wildly around them, but Kyle didn't notice. He was nervous, twisting his hands together and he called on all of his courage. _

"_Kyle…? What's wrong?" Paige murmured, stepping toward him. She could tell that he was worried about something, and it scared her. Ever since his death, she had felt as though a part of her was missing. When the Elders had finally agreed to allow Kyle the chance to visit Paige, and then eventually to date her, Paige had been ecstatic. If something was happening now, something that would take Kyle away from her… she didn't know what she would do._

"_When the Avatars killed me, my only thought was that I loved you. When the Elders granted me a chance to be a white-lighter, my only thought was that maybe I would have the chance to see you again. When they finally agreed that I could date you… Paige, I was so… I never wanted to lose you. Ever."_

_Paige swallowed back her tears. Was he leaving her? "I don't want to lose you either? I want to stay with you forever," she replied._

"_Really?" Kyle asked, his eyes boring into hers with a sudden intensity as though this question was the most important question in the world. "Do you really mean that?"_

"_Of course I do," Paige answered, completely bewildered._

_Kyle reached hesitantly into his pocket and pulled out a small box. Paige's eyes widened as he opened it, revealing a simple silver band with a single diamond in the center. "Then will you marry me?" he asked, looking up at her face._

_Paige's breath caught in her throat, and tears streamed down her face. Unable to even form coherent words, she just nodded, frantically, ecstatically._

Paige slammed her fist onto the basement door. "Mel, open the door!" she called. There was no answer from inside the room, but Paige knew her daughter was still there. "Mel, I'm giving you until the count of three. One… Two… Three."

Nothing.

Paige sighed and shook her head. "Oh, forget this," she muttered, and orbed past the closed door and into the room.

Mel was sitting on the floor at the far wall, her knees pulled into her chest. Her eyes were dry, and her face expressionless. She stared blankly ahead of her, not seeing anything.

"Mel?" Paige took a few steps forward, than crossed the room quickly to sit by her daughter. She brushed her own tears away and reached out tentatively. Her daughter did not back away from her touch, so she wrapped her arm around Mel's shoulders.

After a moment, Mel said, "I don't feel anything."

"What?" Paige asked, confused.

"He's dead. Dad is dead and I… I don't feel _anything_," Mel elaborated bitterly. She took a breath, then said, "I can't even cry."

"Oh, sweetheart," Paige whispered, "you're in shock."

Mel shrugged. "Why can't I grieve? Why can't I be sad?" she asked, her voice quiet and forlorn. "Why can't I be angry or upset or scared? I feel _nothing_."

Paige stroked her daughter's hair. "You will," she said softly. "Just let it all come out."

Mel turned dry eyes to her mother. "I wish I could," she said. "But there isn't anything inside of me to come out." She stared back down at her hands and let out a dark laugh. "What kind of daughter can't even cry when her father is _murdered_?"

Paige pressed her lips together, knowing there was nothing she could say that would help Mel right now. So she just wrapped her arm more tightly around her daughter's shoulders and sat there in silence, waiting.

Eventually the shock would go away, and then the tears would come.

* * *

The Seer stared at her pool for a moment, lost in thought. Although she had not foreseen the death of the white-lighter, she was pleased with it because it only helped to aid them in their plans. The Halliwells were distracted, and they would not come looking for the Hollow any time soon. 

And yet… she was a little unnerved that she had been so oblivious to what was going to happen? Why had her pool not shown her the white-lighter's death? It was certainly an important event, and she should have had at least a clue that it _could_ happen.

"The Hollow has been taken to the Citadel," the Source announced as he flamed into the cave. "It is almost time."

The Seer waved her hand over the pool, and the water showed her an image of the sky, inky black, and dotted with tiny white stars.

"It is almost time," she agreed.

* * *

Next Chapter: Sources of Evil 

Due: Sun 6/18


	45. Sources of Evil

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I promise the next chapter will resolve the issue of who has the Power of Three, and explain why the Source couldn't predict Kyle's death. Those both were supposed to be in this chapter, but then it would have gotten too long.

* * *

Previously: 

_"Yes…" Nathaniel paused. He didn't want to be the bearer of more bad news, but he knew he had to tell them. "The Tribunal came to a conclusion…" _

_Phoebe groaned and buried her head in her hands once again. "What did they decide?" she asked, already knowing the answer. _

_"They've requested a trial. You three are to report to them in two hours. I'm to take you there," Nathaniel said hesitantly, bracing himself for the explosion he knew would come. _

_And sure enough… _

_"Paige just lost her _husband_, Mel and Pen lost their _father_!" Phoebe cried, jumping to her feet. "We _lost _our brother-in-law and the Tribunal wants us to come to their stupid trial? You _have got_ to be kidding me!"

* * *

_

Chapter Forty-Four: Sources of Evil

"I'm not going," Paige said. She leaned against the wall near the doorway of Chris' room. Mel had finally broken down into tears, and then fallen into an exhausted sleep. Paige had orbed her to Chris' bed, and after making sure that she was really asleep, left the room. In the hall, Piper and Phoebe had informed her of the Tribunal's summons, and she was shaking with anger.

"We can't not go," Piper said wearily. "They could take away our powers, take away our memories…" She rubbed her bloodshot eyes and tried to give Paige a sympathetic smile, but it came out as more of a grimace.

Paige shook her head. "Kyle's dead. I haven't even had time to bury my husband and they want to put us on trial?" She gave a harsh, bitter laugh. "No, not going to happen."

Leo appeared at the top of the stairs leading down from the attic, and overheard the last part of Paige's statement. He frowned slightly and shook his head. "Paige, we can't postpone this. They won't let us."

"So?" Paige spat back. "I don't care if they _let_ us or not. I'm not going."

"She's right," Phoebe spoke up, glaring at Leo. "How can you just stand there and let this happen?"

"I have no control over the Tribunal," Leo replied angrily.

"Two of them are Elders," Phoebe argued. "Aren't they supposed to be on our side? Aren't they your colleagues?"

"There is no Good and Evil in the Tribunal. Those Elders are not to be swayed by sides," Leo pointed out logically.

"How can you stand there and defend them?" Paige whispered, her voice hoarse. "How?"

"I'm not defending them!" Leo cried in frustration. "But I am telling you that you can't ignore them." He took a few more steps towards them, but Paige simply turned and walked away, disappearing down the stairs to the first floor. Phoebe gave Leo one last glare before following her sister, leaving Piper and Leo alone in the hall.

Leo turned to his wife. "Piper…"

"I know," Piper replied miserably. "I know why we have to go, and Phoebe and Paige know as well. It's just so hard and so unfair."

"Life isn't fair," Wyatt said as he joined his parents in the hall. He had been in the attic, trying to sense his brother, who had somehow managed to completely block his signal. Wyatt was fairly certain that Chris still didn't know how to consciously do that, which meant, yet again, he subconsciously didn't want to be near his family.

"Anything on Chris?" Leo asked his eldest. The Twice Blessed shook his head and Leo sighed. "Did you try scrying."

"And summoning spells, and sensing," Wyatt answered. "I'm running out of ideas." He ran a hand through his blonde hair, frustrated at being helpless to protect his brother.

"We'll find him," Leo said softly, more to reassure himself than anyone else.

"I just… I can't help but feel that this is my partially my fault," Wyatt muttered. At Piper's confused stare, he continued, "He's running because that is what the other Chris did when things got bad. And the other Chris learned to do that because that was the only way to deal with the world that _I_ created."

"That wasn't you," Piper said automatically.

Wyatt shrugged. "Maybe not, but it still feels like it is my fault." He glanced from his mother to his father and said, "I have one more idea on how to find Chris, but I have to go out for a little bit. I'll make sure not to block my signal, and call if you need anything." Without another word, he orbed away.

Piper stared at the spot he had stood for a moment, then turned and marched down the stairs into the sunroom. Paige and Phoebe were both there, sitting on the wicker loveseat, staring at nothing in silence. Piper took a seat across from them and said softly but firmly, "We're going to the Tribunal."

Two sets of incredulous eyes turned to look at her.

"How can you take their side?" Phoebe demanded.

"I didn't," Piper retorted. "I'm just stating what we all know is true. We are going when they summon us because we _have_ to."

"The hell we do," Paige argued, leaning back in her seat. "Kyle is dead, Piper. I lost my husband. You have no idea what that feels like!"

Piper rolled her eyes. "Do you have any idea how many times the Elders have tried to take Leo away from me? I know damn well what it feels like to lose a husband." She paused, turning to stare straight at Paige. "And a child."

Both Paige and Phoebe fell into a stunned silence at that, it was the first time that Piper had so blatantly admitted that the other Chris had died. Then Paige said, "You got Leo back every time, and you still have Chris. Kyle isn't coming back."

Piper sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I _know_," she said softly. "And I am not in any way trying to diminish that. But I do know what you are feeling, and I also know that we can't let our grief prevent us from fighting the Source."

"Why not?" Phoebe asked. "Every time we get something good in our lives, magic takes it away. Mom, Grams, Prue, Cole, Jason…" She ticked off the people on her hand, studying Piper's expression as she did so.

"And so you want the world to just end?" Piper demanded. She stood up and began pacing. "Chris has gone AWOL again, and Wyatt is blaming himself for his brother's reticence. Jason and you are divorced, Leo almost died, Kyle is gone, Mel and Pen are falling apart, and God only knows how Prue is dealing with all of this. If we give up now, then all of that will be for nothing." She softened her voice a little and continued, "It isn't just our lives that are at stake. It's the world, it's billions of innocents, it's… it's our _children_." She paused, her voice choked with emotion.

"It isn't fair," Paige whispered in the silence that followed Piper's speech.

"No, it isn't," Piper agreed. "But when has it ever been fair?"

* * *

Bianca looked up at the sound of orbs, assuming it was Chris. Her eyes widened slightly with surprise as she realized that it was not in fact her boyfriend who had materialized in the room. "Not the Halliwell brother I was expecting," she remarked casually, getting of the sofa and standing up. Every muscle in her body was tense with apprehension. 

"I need your help," Wyatt said through clenched teeth. He could see the anxiety in the Phoenix's eyes, and knew that she was thinking back to their earlier argument. It galled his pride to have to ask her for help, but he also felt a little pleasure at the fact that she was so wary around him.

"With what?" Bianca asked.

"Chris is gone, and he's blocking his signal," Wyatt answered simply. "We can't find him anywhere, and I was hoping you might have an idea of where he is."

"Where have you looked?" Bianca asked in concern. She pushed aside her dislike of Wyatt, knowing that there was very little she wouldn't do for Chris.

"The Bridge, a little arboretum that Dad suggested, P3, Magic School, and Up There," Wyatt answered. He had been very thorough in his search, and it was frustrating to have come out of it empty-handed. "After that I tried scrying and summoning spells, and it didn't work."

Bianca nodded, accepting this information. "Why did Chris leave?" she asked next, hoping it would lead her to a clue about where Chris might be.

"We… I… he was not being…" Wyatt stumbled over the words for a moment, unsure how to explain what had happened. "He was acting like… well, Mom said he was acting like the other Chris… and he yelled that he was partially the other Chris, and then… Dad asked him if he was okay and he… he just orbed away," Wyatt managed to explain.

Bianca walked over to the window and stared out at the coastline. "He thought you were smothering him," she said at last. She leaned her head against the cool glass and sighed. "Do you think he is in the Underworld?" She turned and glanced back at Wyatt.

"I thought about that," Wyatt admitted, "but I don't know. I mean, the other Chris might have gone and vanquished demons when he was upset, but this Chris, _our_ Chris, wouldn't do something like that."

Bianca thought about that for a moment, then asked, "How is everyone else doing?"

The question startled Wyatt so much that it took him a moment to register what she had actually asked. Was she expressing concern for his family?

"Not well," Wyatt admitted honestly. "And on top of everything, the Tribunal has decided to put my Mom and aunts on trial."

"I know," Bianca replied without thinking, and knew a moment later it was a mistake.

Wyatt's eyes narrowed. "How?" he asked, and Bianca marveled inwardly at how threatening he could make that one word.

"Some other members of my clan heard rumors that the Tribunal might get involved, and they decided to investigate," Bianca said slowly. She held Wyatt's gaze for a moment, not willing to back down. "We didn't have anything to do with any of this, if that's what you are asking."

Wyatt shrugged. "How do you know?" he said. "If your clan was scared enough… you said it yourself, fear makes people do stupid things."

"I just know," Bianca said icily. "And if you had listened to me in the first place about taking the Hollow then none of this would have happened anyway."

"You didn't have a better idea at the time, and leaving the Hollow unprotected would have just helped the Seer and the Source," Wyatt shot back. "We were trying to protect it."

"Didn't work though, did it?" Bianca mocked. "In fact, it only got you in more trouble than you were in before."

"At least we were willing to try something instead of sit back and let Evil win," Wyatt replied furiously. He was about to continue the argument was the thought of Chris flickered through his mind, and he forced himself to take a calming breath. Then he said, "This isn't helping us find Chris. Do you know where he is or not?"

Bianca shook her head. "My guess would have been the Bridge. It is where he always goes to think." She walked back to the sofa and sat down, sinking into the cushions. "Although, if he is grieving right now, then the Underworld isn't a bad bet."

"It is a big Underworld," Wyatt said in frustration. "How are we going to find him?"

Bianca raised an eyebrow at Wyatt. "We?" she asked, surprised.

Wyatt met her gaze and said firmly, "I don't like you. I don't think I am ever going to like you. But I know Chris loves you, and I see that you love him. So if you think you can help me find him, then I am willing to take that help."

* * *

"Di! Ecce hora! Uxor mea me necabit!" Leo called out the strange words, summoning the Tribunal. He swallowed nervously and shot a glance over at his wife. Piper met his gaze for a moment, then looked away, she too was worried. 

Who knew what would happen?

"So when do the floating heads appear?" Phoebe asked, staring around the void. Her memory of this place was not a fond one, and she was eager to be done with the trial as soon as possible. But Paige, Piper, and Leo were all worried, and Phoebe knew they had a good reason to be. The Tribunal were unpredictable, and there was no way of knowing what their final decision on this matter would be. Especially since they had no actual material proof of what the Source was planning.

"Right about now," Piper replied, glancing up as four giant heads emerged out of the darkness. She recognized them instantly as the four who had been there before. Apparently the judges of the Tribunal did not change or retire.

"Who summons the Tribunal?" the first demon asked, and Phoebe thought idly that his name might have been Crill.

"Well, actually, it was you that summoned us," Paige snapped.

"Paige," Leo hissed a warning. "Don't."

"The Charmed Ones," another Tribunal member spoke up, one of the Elders.

"That's right," Piper replied stiffly, staring at the Elder. Adair, maybe? "You called us, but we're kind of busy at the moment, so can you make this snappy?"

Adair said nothing, musing over her words for a moment. But the other demon spoke up, his voice layered with scorn, "You mean like stealing the Hollow?"

"_Protecting_," Phoebe replied, shaking her head.

"From what?" Adair sneered. "It was perfectly safe."

"The Source was going to release it," Phoebe argued.

"The Source is vanquished," the other demon said. "How would he manage to release the Hollow when he is not even in our time? It seems to me as though you are, yet again, trying to blame someone else for…"

"Peace, Thrask," the second Elder ordered. "Let them speak."

Thrask glared at him, and Crill was about to argue as well, but Adair spoke up, "Aravis is right. At the least, let us hear them out."

Leo took the following momentary silence to speak up. "We have reason to believe that the Source is trying to use the Hollow to escape from hell," he said, his voice echoing slightly in the void. "We were trying to prevent him from doing that."

"You have reason to believe…?" Aramis pressed.

"But do you have proof?" Crill demanded.

"Why won't you just believe us?" Paige spat angrily. "After _everything_ we've done for you, everything we've _sacrificed_ because of magic…"

"There are many demons who would argue the same," Thrask interrupted.

"But they're _demons_," Phoebe pointed out, shaking her head. "They're evil."

"Good and evil don't matter to us, Ms. Halliwell," Crill sneered. "We protect all magic, regardless of its predisposition."

"Kyle is dead because of demons, because of evil," Paige retorted, her voice catching in her throat as she stifled back a sob. "He's dead, my husband is _dead_. My children lost their father because of…"

"Touching, but besides the point," Crill interrupted. "The unfortunate demise of your white-lighter is not the subject for discussion right now. Do you or do you not have proof that the Source was trying to steal the Hollow?"

Paige bristled at his condescending tone and opened her mouth to give a acerbic retort, but Leo caught her arm and shook his head. "Don't," he whispered. "It's not worth it." Paige glared at him, yanking her arm out of his grasp, but remained silent.

Piper spoke up, directing her answer to the two Elders, "Prue and Phoebe had a premonition."

As if on cue, the center circle began to glow, and a hologram appeared in front of them all. Phoebe felt the familiar sensation of déjà vu as she remembered the trial from all those years ago, the one where she had lost her active powers. But she shook those thoughts away and focused on the image before her.

"_Did you see who it was? Who the two demons where?" Piper asked, handing Phoebe a glass of water._

_Phoebe nodded and took a sip from the glass. "Yes, I saw. It was the Seer."_

"_Who?" Prue asked, confused, and she glanced between her aunts and mother._

"_The Seer?" Paige repeated. "The one who stole your baby?"_

"_What?" Prue's sharp questioned reverberated in the temporary silence._

"_The Seer that we already vanquished? She's back?" Piper sounded both annoyed and scared._

_Piper reached out and place a hand on Phoebe' shoulder. "Phoebe? Prue said there were two people there. Did you get a look at the other demon?" _

"_I saw," Phoebe murmured. _

"_Well?" Prue demanded. "Did you recognize him?"_

"_Yes," Phoebe whispered. She swallowed, then continued, "It was the Source."_

Adair and Aravis started talking quietly to each other, interest plain on their faces, but Thrask looked unimpressed. The demon stared at the sisters and said, "So you have proof that the Seer and the Source were up to something. But the Hollow was not mentioned once." His tone was decidedly disdainful.

Another image appeared, a later one, and one that the sisters all remembered too well.

"_The Source learned from the last battle with you that he could not control the Hollow," Leo explained, looking around at his gathered family members. "But the Hollow, like all magic, follows the laws of this world. The world is kept in a fine balance, and if one thing goes wrong everything swings out of control. Because of this, once the world is overloaded with these fate-connections, the magic will continue creating more. Like the domino effect."_

"_So if the Source create enough intersecting points, then when he releases the Hollow, the Hollow would continue along the path he started? It would create a world ruled entirely by fate?" Chris asked._

_Leo nodded, "Yes."_

"_So?" Wyatt questioned._

"_If we had a world ruled entirely by fate, everything we did would be predetermined," Leo continued. "We would have no free will, no choice in anything."_

"_Okay, so I see why that is bad, but I still don't get why the Source would do that. What does he stand to gain?" Wyatt asked._

_Leo sighed and said hesitantly, "Well, that's the problem. He would gain nothing."_

"_If he won't gain anything, why would he bother?" Chris asked._

"_I didn't say he wouldn't gain anything," Leo replied. "I said he would gain nothing. As in, the total destruction of everything. Annihilation. Emptiness."_

"Mere conjecture, no actual proof," Crill snorted derisively. "And the Hollow was still not mentioned."

"He's using the Hollow to end the world!" Phoebe exploded. "Why can't you see that?"

"Because you aren't showing it to us," Thrask argued back. He turned and looked at the two Elders. "Sure you don't believe them?" he demanded.

Aravis answered, "They have not given us proof to except their words without question, but they have shown that we cannot rule out their beliefs either. I would ask that they gather more evidence."

"Evidence of what?" Crill spat. "They have shown us nothing in the first place. They are simply trying to discredit the Source!"

"Well, he is evil," Piper said sarcastically. "And so are you, for that matter. You are our enemies."

"Piper," Leo warned angrily. Why wouldn't they listen to him and stop goading the Tribunal?

"Not now, they aren't," Adair spoke up. "Right now good and evil do not matter. It is magic that is at stake, all magic."

"But we are Good," Paige objected. "Our word is the one you should believe, not that of evil. They lie."

"We all lie, if it is in our best interests," Crill pointed out logically. "Or have you never lied to a demon or warlock before?"

"That's different," Piper shot back.

"How?" Thrask retorted. "What makes it so different? We all lie, we all manipulate, we all take sides. Evil is no worse than good in this respect, and right now the differences between the two are not the topic of discussion. _You_ removed the Hollow without authority, and that is what we are discussing."

"We are trying to protect it, to protect the world, to protect _you_," Phoebe snarled.

"Touching, but why should we believe you?" Thrask mocked.

"Why shouldn't you?" Phoebe demanded. "Oh, that's right, because you're evil."

"How do you define evil?" Crill asked. "Is evil defined as lying, manipulating, and cheating the other side? Hurting or killing those who don't believe the same thing you do?" He paused and stared at the three sisters, then said, "Because from our point of view, that is exactly what you three do as well." He paused again, waiting for his words to sink in, then asked rhetorically, "Does that make you evil as well?"

"We have love, and ties to family, and dignity and honor and respect for each other," Piper argued. "That's what makes us good."

Thrask sneered, "The Khail have all those things as well, Piper Halliwell, as I am sure your run-in with Sarina showed you." Piper started to protest, but he continued talking over her, "Did she not love her clan? Did she not value them above all else? Did she not respect them, and did they not respect her? And when she gave you her word, as High Priestess of the Khail, that she would not attack you until your disagreement with the Source was over, did you not know that she would abide by the that promise?" He drew a breath. "Does that not make her good?"

"If you know that much about what has happened to us in the past couple weeks, then you must have always known why we stole the Hollow," Leo said suddenly, staring at Thrask suspiciously.

"I know why you claimed to have stolen it," Thrask answered, "but I still do not have proof that the Source is going to use it."

"However," Crill glanced at his three Tribunal companions, "we are willing to compromise. Contrary to what you seem to believe, we are not inherently on the Source's side simply because we are demons. If he is indeed trying to end the world, then I will agree with your plan of action. I therefore vote that we give the Charmed Ones 72 hours to bring us proof of what the Source is trying to do. If they succeed, we will let them go unpunished. If not…" He let the sentence hang half-finished, the unspoken threat lingering in the air.

"Agreed," Adair and Aravis said, nodding. Thrask nodded as well, and the four of them suddenly disappeared.

* * *

"Okay, we've been down here for an hour, and have yet to find Chris. Maybe this is just a waste of time," Wyatt said wearily. 

Bianca glanced over at him and shook her head. "Maybe, but it isn't like we've got any other plans."

Wyatt grimaced at the truth in that statement and remarked, "I'm surprised he didn't come when you called for him before."

Bianca nodded thoughtfully. Before they had come to the Underworld, Bianca had tried simply calling for Chris. He did not appear. Which most likely meant that he was somewhere in the Underworld, somewhere where he couldn't hear her. Which is why they had decided to come down here and look around.

But so far the search had yielded nothing. None of the demons they had… _questioned_… knew anything about the disappearing witch-lighter, and Wyatt still couldn't sense his brother.

Bianca stopped walking for a moment. "We're down here because we assumed that he didn't answer me because he couldn't here me," she said abruptly.

Wyatt shot her a look. "So?"

"What if that wasn't the case?" Bianca pressed. "What if he did hear and just didn't want to answer?"

"Why wouldn't he want to answer?" Wyatt asked. As much as he hated to admit it, Bianca seemed like one of the few people who Chris would want to see right now.

Bianca didn't answer the question. Instead, she shimmered away, and Wyatt quickly orbed after her.

Wyatt frowned and looked around at the place where he appeared. They were in an alley behind a restaurant in downtown San Francisco. He blinked through the dim light and followed Bianca quickly as she walked out onto the crowded street. The Phoenix paused for a moment, looking back and forth, before turning sharply and walking towards a sketchy looking nightclub a few buildings away from them.

Wyatt frowned as he followed her, fairly certain that his brother would not be here. Why on earth would Chris hang out in this sort of neighborhood?

But Bianca pushed the door of the nightclub open, noting as she did so that the lock was broken, and stepped inside, and Wyatt followed uneasily. The club was dark, the only light coming in through the dirty windows. The floor was swept, but still felt slightly sticky under their feet, and the air was stale.

And sitting at the bar, leaning his head on his hands, was Chris.

"I don't think place opens until sundown," Bianca remarked, walking towards her boyfriend.

Chris looked up from where he sat. "I know…" he muttered. Bianca was slightly relieved to see that there was no glass in front of him. He hadn't been drinking, he was just sitting in a club by himself.

"How did you get in?" she asked curiously.

"Door," Chris replied, looking back down at the bar. "Broke the lock."

"What if they have security cameras?" Bianca asked, worried. She glanced around, but didn't see any, and hoped that they weren't hidden.

"I cast a spell to make sure being here isn't recorded," Chris explained, still not looking at her.

"Chris, we were all really worried about you. We need you back home," Wyatt said, stepping forward.

Chris swiveled in his seat and looked up at Wyatt. "I needed to be alone for a bit," he said quietly.

"So you came here?" Wyatt asked incredulously, looking around the club.

Chris didn't answer. Instead, he turned back to Bianca. "How did you know I would be here?" he asked, rubbing his eyes. Up close, Bianca could see that they were bloodshot, he had been crying.

"You didn't answer my calls," Bianca. "I figured if you didn't want to talk to me, this was a good place to check for you."

"What is this place?" Wyatt asked curiously, now sending the question to Bianca.

The assassin sighed. "This is where Chris and I broke up," she said softly. "After he found out that I was a Phoenix."

"You didn't know she was a Phoenix when you started dating her?" Wyatt asked, surprised.

Chris shook his head. "Nope. She wasn't exactly forthcoming on the fact that she was an assassin."

"And you didn't tell me that you were a witch," Bianca retorted. "And then, even after you said you were a witch, you didn't tell me that you were the son of a Charmed One. I had to find that out from my _mother_."

"Why did you break up here?" Wyatt asked, slightly curious. He hadn't realized that Bianca and Chris had ever had problems in their relationship, and at that moment it occurred to him how very little he knew about this part of his brother's life.

"I was at the restaurant across the street with some friends," Chris said softly, "and we were just about to leave. Then I heard yelling from across the street and ran over here. There is an alley behind the club, and a demon was trying to kill an innocent back there."

"Only the innocent turned out to be Matt…" Bianca murmured.

"Who?" Wyatt interrupted.

"A Phoenix," Bianca replied. "One of my closest friends." Bianca glanced over at Chris and continued the story. "Anyway, Chris ran over in time to see my vanquish the demon with an energy ball and then shimmer over to Matt. He was… upset… and we ended up yelling at each other for a while, then breaking up."

"You lied to me," Chris said bitterly.

"And you lied to me," Bianca retorted. "We've been over this, Chris. We worked through it."

"All you do is lie," Chris hissed, jumping to his feet. "You told me that Wyatt had sent his demons after your clan, you told me you wanted to help us, and all the time you were working as a spy!"

Wyatt stared at his brother in shock, his mind taking a moment to comprehend the fact that they were now talking about a different timeline. But Bianca had already reached that conclusion, and was staring at Chris in shock.

"I worked for Wyatt?" Bianca was dumbfounded.

"Yeah, you know, the Source of All Evil!" Chris spat.

"But I thought…" Bianca didn't even know how to finish the sentence. She thought they had been in love. Had that all been a lie? Was her mother wrong, were all of Chris' other memories wrong?

"You lied," Chris repeated.

Bianca turned and shot a pointed look at Wyatt, who glared at her, but obeyed the spoken request to leave the room. He walked over to the door and stood there, watching as his brother and Bianca argued. He couldn't hear the words, but he could tell by their body language that they were both upset.

"What happened in that other timeline doesn't matter," Bianca snapped. "It's over and done with, and what matter now is this timeline. The timeline where I love you and you love me."

"We loved each other in the other timeline as well," Chris muttered. "Eventually, after you came to our side, we loved each other. But it wasn't enough. Wyatt turned you again, and he killed you."

"Well, he isn't going to turn me and he isn't going to kill me," Bianca replied.

"No, maybe some other Source will do it for him!" Chris retorted. "Maybe one day I'll wake up to find that the girl I'm dating isn't really who she said she was." He paused and stared at Bianca, then said ironically, "Oh, wait, I've already done that."

Bianca flushed slightly and narrowed her eyes. "Yeah? At least when you found out that I was magical, I told you everything about who I was. I told about the Phoenixes, I introduced you to my mother, I explained why I wasn't an assassin anymore. Did you give me the same courtesy? No, I found out about your legacy from my mother."

Chris said nothing for a moment, then he whispered, "Go away."

"No," Bianca said simply. "Not going to happen."

"Bianca…"

"What?" Bianca demanded. "You want me to leave so you can wallow in self pity some more? Oh, poor Chris has such a hard life. He's got parents who love him, and an older brother who adores him, aunts and uncles who spoil him, cousins who worship the ground he walks on, and a girlfriend who would give up her own life for him. How _terrible_!" Her words were dripping with sarcasm.

Chris stared at her, hurt in his green eyes, and Bianca sighed and looked away.

"I love you," the Phoenix said at last. "Your family loves you. I know you're hurting right now. I know that your uncle's death is painful, I know that having two sets of memories is confusing, I know having the Source try to end everything is scary. I'm not trying to minimize any of that. But we all need you right now."

Chris nodded and stood up. "You're right," he said quietly. "I need to go back home." He paused for a moment, then gave Bianca a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks," he whispered.

Bianca gave him a soft smile and a nod before shimmering away.

Wyatt walked over to Chris. "You okay?" he asked, concerned.

Chris stared at his brother for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Uh… sorry about the Source of All Evil comment."

Wyatt shrugged. "Don't worry about it. Come on, we need to go home before Mom freaks out even more than she is already doing." He turned and glanced at the door of the club. "And you really need to stop disappearing. It's making Dad go gray."

"He's an angel, he can't really age," Chris replied.

Wyatt rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean," he retorted, and the two orbed out of the club.

* * *

Next Chapter: The Phoenix Clan 

Due: Fri 6/23


	46. The Phoenix Clan

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: Sorry for the delay, FFN wouldn't let me upload documents for the longest time.

There was a request for more description of the characters' emotions, so this chapter has a bit more emotion to it than I originally intended it to. Part of this chapter has a bit of my theory on magic in it, so I figured that I should remind you all that, at least in this story, magic is a sentient being, meaning that it can think for itself. Sort of. Also, I don't really remember anything about how the Hollow works, but I do know that it absorbs power. I expand on that a little, and I guess created my own version of how I think the Hollow should work. It could be very different from the show, in which case I apologize since I am trying to keep things closer to how they were on the show.

* * *

"I know why you claimed to have stolen it," Thrask answered, "but I still do not have proof that the Source is going to use it."

"However," Crill glanced at his three Tribunal companions, "we are willing to compromise. Contrary to what you seem to believe, we are not inherently on the Source's side simply because we are demons. If he is indeed trying to end the world, then I will agree with your plan of action. I therefore vote that we give the Charmed Ones 72 hours to bring us proof of what the Source is trying to do. If they succeed, we will let them go unpunished. If not…" He let the sentence hang half-finished, the unspoken threat lingering in the air.

_"Agreed," Adair and Aravis said, nodding. Thrask nodded as well, and the four of them suddenly disappeared._

* * *

Chapter Forty-Five: The Phoenix Clan

"Seventy-two hours? How are we supposed to find proof in seventy-two hours?" Phoebe demanded the moment they reappeared in the Manor. She stepped away from her sisters and looked around, her empathy kicking. A headache started to form from all the tension in the house and she closed her eyes briefly. It was getting harder to block out the constant pain that radiated from her younger sister and her twin nieces.

"Phoebe?" Piper asked in concern, noting her sister's sudden loss of composure.

"I'm fine," Phoebe replied through gritted teeth. She opened her eyes and turned to Leo. "You didn't answer my question."

Leo nodded, frustrated. It was a good point, how were they suppose to come up with proof in seventy-two hours? Three days… He ran a hand through his hair, absent-mindedly rubbing the back of his head. "I think we should focus on stopping the Source. The Tribunal is actually the least of our problems."

"Unless they take our powers away," Paige pointed out mildly.

"If we can stop the Source within the next three days, then that would be our proof," Leo replied.

"How can we possibly stop him in three days?" Piper asked incredulously. "We don't know a thing about what he is planning or where he is or where the Hollow is."

"Piper's right," Phoebe said glumly. "We just don't have enough time or information." She bit her lip and looked over at Paige, who had tuned out the conversation and was staring through the far windows at the sky outside. She didn't need to be an empath to know how much pain her little sister was in, she could see it in her eyes and the lines on her face. Paige had tried so hard to be strong for her daughters, had tried to hold it together when they went to face the Tribunal, but there was only so much pain a person could take, even someone as strong as a Charmed One.

Which lead Phoebe's train of thought to a completely different subject. "Leo?" she asked, turning to her brother-in-law, "did we ever figure out which set of Charmed Ones has the Power of Three?"

Leo's eyes widened as he realized that they hadn't. "I meant to ask the other Elders, but I didn't get the chance," he explained. "I'll check now." He turned to Piper. "In the mean time, you should start trying to locate the Hollow."

"How?" Piper asked. "We have _no_ idea where to start."

Leo shrugged. "I'm sure you can come up with an idea," he said confidently before orbing away.

"Did he just bail on us?" Phoebe asked incredulously.

Piper didn't answer, instead she called out, "Wyatt? Did you find Chris?"

"Yeah, he did," a voice said, and Chris walked down the stairs from the second floor. Piper's face relaxed measurably, her expression flooding with relief. "Don't do that! Do you have any idea how worried we are every time you leave? Honestly, you'd think that your goal in life was to give us a heart attack," she said, drawing a breath in preparation for a longer rant.

"With the world ending and everything, she still has time to lecture me," Chris quipped, rolling his eyes. Piper managed a half-hearted smile at his attempt to lighten the mood, and Chris returned it with a grin. Then he turned to Phoebe and said, "Uncle Jason just left, and Prue went with him. She said to have someone orb over and get her if we need her."

Phoebe raised an eyebrow at that, surprised. When Prue was upset, it was always her mother that she went to, not her father. She continually claimed that men just weren't good at handling the emotional stuff, and that was why girls had mothers. Phoebe swallowed, feeling a sudden sharp pain in her chest and a strange sense of loss as she realized that Prue had chosen Jason and not her as the parent to confide in.

"Okay," the empath said. "I don't think we need her right now, but I'll send you over for her as soon as we have a plan."

"What did the Tribunal say?" Chris asked anxiously.

"Seventy-two hours," Phoebe muttered. Chris shot her a confused look, but she didn't elaborate, instead turning and looking over at Paige in concern again. It was rare that she felt much from either of her sisters, or, in fact, anyone in the family, since they had all, at some point, taken an empathy blocking potion. But the pain in the house was so great right now, and she was in such physical proximity to her grieving sister, that it was hard not to feel the anguish.

Piper noticed Phoebe's concerned look and decided that the best way to distract Paige right now was to get everyone busy "Come on, lets get to work. We have to find the Hollow before everything ends."

Paige glanced back at her sisters and thought idly that having everything end might not be a bad idea. At the very least, it would make the pain go away.

* * *

"We aren't even having a funeral," Pen said. Her voice was emotionless and exhausted, as though she couldn't muster the energy necessary to feel anything. But her bloodshot eyes betrayed her inner sorrow. 

Wyatt looked up from where he stood, flipping through the Book. "What?" he asked, confused.

"For Dad," Pen clarified. "They just took his body Up There to preserve it, and we don't even get a funeral. We have to wait until after we stop the Source, and how long will that take? It's already been days, weeks even, since Chris first got his memories of the other timeline. How long will it be before we get to bury him? What if we never do? What if the world ends, and we never go the chance to say goodbye properly?" Pen's voice was getting louder and louder as she spoke, and Wyatt could tell she was almost in hysterics.

And then the emotional outburst was over and she was quiet again, staring blankly ahead at the wall.

"Pen…"

"Did you find anything in the Book?"

Wyatt groaned silently in frustration at Pen's dispassionate demeanor. She was back to asking business questions again, as though the previous outburst had just suddenly been completely forgotten.

"Pen, do you want to talk?" Wyatt asked gently.

"No," Pen said, "I want to keep the world from ending. Did you find anything?"

Wyatt marveled inwardly at the young girl's ability to compartmentalize her feelings. Then he realized vaguely that they all did that, especially Chris now that he had the other memories. Was this the Halliwell curse, to never be able to feel anything because they were too busy trying to save the world?

"You should talk about Uncle Kyle," Wyatt said, refusing to change the subject. "You can't keep it all bottled up inside."

"I'm not bottling anything," Pen snapped. "But we need to focus on finding the Hollow."

Wyatt closed the Book and stepped around the podium. At some other point in time he might have agreed with her, but now he was more concerned about her emotional health than the fate of the world. Added to that was the fact that they had already combed every page of the Book multiple times and had come up with nothing, he didn't think looking at it again was going to help.

"After Aunt Prue died, my Mom was so angry, and she bottled everything up, and turned into a fury," Wyatt said softly. "And when Phoebe tried to run from her emotions, she turned into a mermaid. So unless you want to turn into a mythical creature, you have to open up."

"I'm fine," Pen bit off the words angrily. A lamp behind her suddenly exploded.

"I think the lamp would disagree," Wyatt replied, a smile tugging at his lips. It disappeared the moment Pen turned her dark eyes on him. "Pen…"

"_Don't_ tell me what to do!" Pen hissed, her anger bubbling to the surface. "Don't tell me what to feel. You don't understand _anything_ I'm going through right now!"

"I know you are hurting…"

"I'm _not_ hurting," Pen countered, her face contorted in rage.

"Pen…"

"I'm angry! He _left_ us! He left _me_! He was supposed to be there for me, _forever_. He's an _angel_, for God's sake. He _wasn't_ supposed to die. How can he leave us now, with the world ending? How can he leave when I was _so_ scared already? Mom is _falling_ apart, and Mel has gone into _shock_, and I… I… How could he do this to us? He promised he would always be there to protect us. He _promised_, and he's _dead_ now. He let himself get _killed_ by a dark-lighter. He _lied_!" A few vials of potions on the table behind Pen exploded, shattering pieces of glass and spilling their liquid across the floor.

Wyatt stepped closer to Pen, ducking as a few shards of glass flew through the air towards him. He reached out and caught her hands, and she tried to pull away but he held on. Dragging her towards him, he pulled her into a hug that she struggled against, hitting his chest with her fists.

"I _hate_ him for this! I will _never_ forgive him for leaving us. How could he do this? How could he let magic pull him away from us? Why? How? I don't… I don't understand how…" Pen's voice was muffled slightly and it cracked as she gasped out the words. Tears flowed from her eyes as she collapsed into Wyatt's embrace. "I _hate_ him."

* * *

"What are you all doing here?" Bianca asked as she shimmered into her apartment and discovered that it was packed with family members. Her eyes scanned over the different Phoenixes, many of whom she had not seen in weeks, some of whom she had not seen in months. A quick tally told her that there were twenty-four people in the room, including her mother and Matt. 

Matt answered her question simply, "We're here to help."

"Touching, but you're going to have to be a bit more specific," Bianca replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "This isn't like an intervention or something, is it?"

Lynn gestured for her daughter to sit down, and Bianca complied, taking a seat on her sofa. She stared at her mother expectantly, and Lynn sighed.

"We found out where the Hollow is," Lynn said quietly.

"That's good, right?" Bianca asked, confused about why everyone looked so glum.

"No, it's not," Matt replied. "The Source took it to a citadel in the lower caves of the Underworld. The Citadel was originally used for the most important dark rituals; anointments, cursing and banishing powerful clans like the Khail, and unions between the most influential demons."

"Let me guess, it's well guarded," Bianca said slowly.

"More than just that," Matt replied. "There are at least fifty demons who keep a watch on it at all times. The place is laced with protective spells making it almost impossible for any witch or other agent of good to get in. We were only able to sneak in because, as assassins, we are neutral beings, and even then it was touch and go as to whether the spells would alert the demons to our presence."

"But you all got out okay, right?" Bianca asked in growing concern.

"Yes," Lynn answered quickly.

Another Phoenix, a red-haired woman in her mid-thirties, spoke up, "We got out alright, but the problem is that eventually we are going to have to get back in."

"How is that a problem, Liz?" Bianca asked. She narrowed her eyes, "And what do you mean by we?"

"You don't actually think we are letting you do this by yourself?" another Phoenix spoke up, brushing his blonde hair out of his dark eyes.

"Why would you risk your life on this, Nathan?" Bianca asked. "We're hardly friends. The last time I saw you, you threw an energy ball at me."

"Because you were being insufferable," Nathan shot back. "Besides, it was a low voltage energy ball and I had full confidence in your ability to avoid it. Even if it had hit you, it wouldn't have hurt you. Much."

Bianca rolled her eyes again. "Your sentiments are endearing but I still don't understand why you are all here."

"The Source has to perform a ceremony to release the Hollow," Matt said quickly. "As far as we can tell, the ceremony has to be performed at a specific time for the Hollow to correctly link all the different fates together."

"I don't understand," Bianca replied. "I thought they just had to open a box."

"No, it's more complicated than that," another Phoenix said. She was old, perhaps in her seventies, with long white hair and heavy wrinkles on her pale skin. She was one of the oldest of the clan, and the most knowledgeable in the mystical and magical aspects of ceremonies, rituals, and rites of passage. "If the Hollow is simply released, it could either bring the links of fate together, melding the timelines and ending the world, or it could simply start absorbing magic. It has to be controlled."

"And to control it, the ceremony has to be done at a specific time?" Bianca finished. She glanced up at the Phoenix. "I didn't realize it was that complicated, Tanya."

"The stars have to be aligned correctly," Tanya explained. "On top of that, enough links between different timelines, enough fate, has to already have been made. The Source is gambling on a lot here."

"The stars have to be aligned, the timelines have to have already begun to meld, and the ceremony has to be performed correctly," Bianca said. "So, theoretically, to stop the Source, we just need to screw up one of those things?"

Tanya nodded.

"Any idea when the ceremony takes place?"

"Soon, but we don't know how soon," Liz cut in. "We don't actually know that many specifics." She ran a hand through her red hair as the other Phoenixes around her nodded in agreement with her statement.

"Our best bet is to find a way to keep the Hollow from being released, or to be able to return it to its Box after it has been released, but before it can end everything," Lynn said.

"And how do we do that?" Bianca asked.

"The Hollow can be returned to its Box if Good and Evil team up and read the inscription on the Box," Tanya said. "However, and this is a little known fact, it can be returned if a powerful enough neutral being reads the inscription as well."

"Neutral?" Bianca mused. "Like an assassin?"

Tanya nodded again.

"And that is where we come in," Lynn said.

"We?"

"We're coming with you on this, Bianca," Lynn said firmly. "I don't care what you or the Halliwells say to that. I am not letting you face the danger of the Source without us by your side."

"I'll have the Charmed Ones, an Elder, the Twice Blessed Child, and the rest of the Halliwells there," Bianca said, shaking her head. "I'll be safe enough."

"We are a clan, we do things together."

"I don't think…"

"We don't care what you do or don't think. Our minds are made up."

"But…"

"If the situation was reversed, wouldn't you want to help us?"

"Yes, but…"

"So then you understand why we would want to help you?"

"It's too dangerous."

"All the more reason you shouldn't do this alone."

"I don't want…"

"We don't care what you want either."

Bianca threw her hands up in frustration, knowing she was fighting a losing battle on this one. The Phoenix clan was loyal to her, even if she had given up her assassin ways, and it would be folly to assume they would let her walk into this kind of danger on her own.

But it was Lynn's words that finally convinced her.

"To obtain the amount of power necessary to return the Hollow, should it be released, we will need several Phoenixes to recite the inscription. You need us."

"Fine," Bianca relented reluctantly and ungracefully. "But let me tell the Halliwells first, alright? Piper and Leo still don't like me, and I don't think it will endear me to them any to suddenly bring a whole bunch of assassins into the house."

The others nodded and Bianca closed her eyes, imagining just how scary Piper's livid expression would be when she discovers that her son's assassin girlfriend was bringing the entire family into this complicated mess.

Then she asked a completely different question. "How did you find out all this information about the ceremony?"

"We asked a few demons," Matt responded nonchalantly.

"And they just told you?" Bianca questioned skeptically.

Lynn and Matt exchanged a glance, then Matt answered, "We convinced them it was in their best interests to cooperate."

"How?"

"Trust me, Bianca, you don't want to know," Lynn replied.

* * *

"Well, we've never had an occurrence like this before," one of the Elders mused thoughtfully, his voice calm. 

It infuriated Leo. Of course they had never had an occurrence like this before. They'd never had Charmed Ones before.

"So who has the Power of Three?" Leo said, trying his best not to lose his temperature at the look of supreme unconcern on the Elders face. Didn't they see that this was possibly the most important question anyone would ever ask? They had to know who had what power, or they would never know how to fight the Source.

"Well," the Elder considered slowly, "the spell your three nieces cast would have called the power to them. So theoretically, they have it."

"Okay," Leo said. "So Mel, Pen, and Prue have it?"

"Except that that spell should only work if the original Charmed Ones are dead. Since they are not, and they have their powers back, I suppose it is possible that they have the Power of Three now," the Elder replied.

"So you don't know who has it?" Leo asked.

The Elder shook his head.

Leo turned and strode away, waiting until he was out of hearing range before throwing his hands in the air and letting a stream of complaints about the insufferable Elders escape his lips.

"Problems?"

Leo spun around to see Nathaniel standing there, looking at him, a faint smile on his face. The blonde Elder sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "We don't know who has the Power of Three, and every Elder I've consulted with told me the same thing."

"That they don't know?" Nathaniel guessed, and Leo nodded. Nathaniel pursed his lips slightly, and asked, "Did you expect them to?"

Leo shrugged. "Many of the Elders have been Elders for centuries. How can they not know this? It isn't like it is a small detail of magic, it's the Power of Three."

Nathaniel nodded in agreement. "Yes, it is," he said simply. "But Leo, the Power of Three did not exist until the sisters came into their powers. Until they did, all the knowledge any Elder had about the Charmed Ones was theoretical. We've had under thirty years to get used to what the sisters can and can't do, and we've never had a situation like this before. We are all comparatively ignorant about this particular issue."

Leo slammed his fist into the wall in frustration and looked around. Up There was still mostly in ruins, the scorch marks and scratches on the marble having not yet been removed. The surviving Elders were slowly and steadily trying to rebuild their home, but they were concerned about more pressing issues, and much of the place had been left untouched, a tribute to the Source's cunning and influence.

"We need answers."

"Magic is a difficult thing to predict. It has a life of its own."

"What do you think?" Leo pressed.

Nathaniel thought about it a moment, then said, "Once the bond between the original Charmed Ones was reconstituted, magic would have had the choice of either staying with its new owners, or returning to its original ones. I don't think it would have had any preference on the issue, because magic would have had very little experience with this sort of situation, and would have no preconceived notions."

"So?"

"I think it would have inhabited whoever wanted it the most," Nathaniel decided at last. "Or, at least, whoever was the most prepared to accept it. Magic does not like going to those who do not want it. In fact, it often tries to leave its owner if it feels that it is not wanted."

"The sisters always complained about their powers," Leo objected. "They still do. They hardly ever wanted them."

"But when the Angel of Destiny offered them the chance to give them up, they refused," Nathaniel replied pointedly. "They accepted their powers, because they realized, on some level, that they would not be complete without them. Perhaps they did not embrace them, but they did not reject it…"

"And Mel, Pen, and Prue willing accepted it when they needed it to call Piper back to our timeline," Leo countered. "They accepted it too."

"So who wants it more?" Nathaniel questioned. "Figure that out, and you will have your answer."

Leo accepted this explanation in silence. The answer did not help him as much as he wanted it to, but it gave him something to go on. Now all he had to do was figure out which set of three would be the most likely to accept the power, should it choose to inhabit them.

* * *

"You want to bring your entire assassin family into my home?" Piper fumed. "Are you out of your mind?" 

She and Bianca were standing in the kitchen. Paige and Phoebe were sitting at the table, discussing the plan that Bianca had suggested, while Chris paced the floor, torn between which person to support.

"Look, the plan would work, wouldn't it?" Bianca argued.

"How can we trust them?" Phoebe asked skeptically. "They _are_ assassins."

Bianca rolled her eyes. "They've already provided vital information to you about the ceremony the Source is planning," she retorted. "Why wouldn't you trust them? They don't want the world to end any more than you do."

"But they couldn't tell us when the ceremony will take place," Piper pointed out.

"They didn't know," Bianca replied in exasperation, throwing her hands up in the air. Piper and Phoebe still looked unsure, and Bianca continued, "Yes, they are assassins. Yes, they are not loyal to Good or to you. But they are my family, and they aren't going to betray me. So at least trust that."

"But I don't trust you," Piper snapped before she could stop herself.

"Mom!" Chris hissed, and Piper sighed. She knew, on some level, that Bianca wouldn't do anything to hurt Chris. She didn't have to be an empath to see how much the Phoenix loved her son. But she still couldn't quite get herself to accept this stranger into her family, not when the other versions of Bianca that she had met had tried to kill Chris in one timeline and Penny in the other.

"Look, I just don't like the idea of working with assassin that I don't know. Not when so much is at stake," Piper defended herself at last, knowing that she couldn't voice her true feelings around Chris. He just wouldn't understand her fears, and why should he? They were her problems to deal with, not his.

But if Bianca so much as hurt him...

"Do we have a choice?" Paige asked wearily. All eyes turned to her, and she shrugged. "If the Hollow is released, then we are going to need someone neutral or evil to return the Hollow to its box. And unless you would like to call back the Khail or the Avatars, I'm not entirely sure that we have much of a choice in this."

Piper ran a hand through her hair and glanced from her youngest sister to Bianca."Fine," she relented. 

"So we just need to figure out when the ceremony is and crash it," Chris said. A silence met his words, they all knew that was much easier said than done. Still, they had a plan, and that was more than they had had that morning.

"Let's just hope we finish this sometime in the next seventy-two hours," Phoebe muttered, and the other two sisters grimaced.

They still had the Tribunal to worry about.

* * *

"You're worried." 

It was not a question, and the Seer did not answer it. Instead, she continued looking at her pool. The water was black, it had shown nothing but black since she had started searching for reasons why the white-lighter had died. It disturbed her, as she suddenly realized a flaw in their plan.

"What is wrong?" That was a question, or rather, an order to explain what she was thinking, and the Seer responded immediately.

"The white-lighter was not supposed to die."

"Oh?" the Source asked, his black eyes narrowing. "Will he come back?"

"No," the Seer said confidently. "No, he won't." She turned away from the water for a moment and regarded her liege. "But his death broke a link of fate, and an important one at that."

"The ceremony cannot be delayed," the Source said sharply.

"I know," the Seer replied. "But it seems as though we will have to take extra measures to make sure that it works." She looked back at the imageless black water. For a moment, the cave was silent, the light from the black pool reflecting on the concerned lines etched into the Seer's face.

"Explain." It was a terse order. They were too close to fail now.

The Seer turned and looked at the Source again. "We can still proceed as planned, but we will have to insure that we have enough power to release the Hollow."

"Why would we not?" the Source asked, the flames bursting in his fathomless black eyes. He did not like last minute changes to his plan.

The Seer was silent for a moment, contemplating her words. Then she said, "The white-lighter died, and his powers entered the void, where they would normally remain until they are passed along to the next white-lighter or witch-lighter."

"So?" the Source demanded.

"Many Elders died as well. And many of those Elders possessed white-lighter powers, such as healing, sensing, or orbing," the Seer said calmly, although her dark eyes stared worriedly at the pool, betraying her concern. "These powers are purely good, which means that, right now, there is a small unbalance in the magic of the void, a tiny favorability towards Good. Given enough time, the Good magic would eventually be passed along to a magical being, and the balance in the void would return to normal."

"Why doesn't the void tip towards good every time a white-lighter dies?" the Source asked. Although he was the Source of All Evil, his knowledge of the basic rules of magic was tainted in that he only knew about the rules of using magic for Evil.

"Because normally when the white-lighter dies, the magic is passed to another being right away," the Source explained. "The world knows that there is a possibility that the white-lighter dies, and it knows it cannot have Good magic remain in the void for too long, so it compensates by creating a potential white-lighter, who will take the other one's place, should he or she die."

"And dark-lighters do not affect this balance by killing potentials?"

"No, because the universe, or rather, the magic that governs it, has prepared for that possibility as well." The Seer sighed and shook her head. "Magic is the most complicated concept in… well, in anything, and the things it can do are beyond miraculous."

"And yet it can still be destroyed by something as simple as melding fate," the Source said smugly. Then he frowned slightly, and realized that the plan had not been simple. In fact, it had taken an incredible amount of planning, and it only worked now because several factors had come into alignment. It could very well be another several millennia before this chance came up again.

Magic knew how to protect itself.

"Sometimes, some things happen that aren't supposed to happen. The white-lighter and the Elders dying was one of those things," the Seer continued. "I do not know enough about magic to know how this happens, but it does, and it takes a little bit longer for magic to balance it out."

"How does this affect us?" the Source questioned.

"When the Hollow is released, and we perform the ceremony, it will immediately begin absorbing the magic that does not currently reside in any being. That is, it will absorb the magic of the void. But for it to link the different timelines together, the magic it absorbs cannot lean in any direction. It has to be pure magic, or else the Hollow will favor Good, and only create links that help Good."

"And if it does not link everything, even those that favor Evil, we will not be able to create a fate-ruled world, and the plan will not work," the Source finished. "How do we fix it?"

"When we release the Hollow, we must make sure it does not absorb the excess Good magic right away, not until it has had a chance to absorb extra Evil magic to compensate."

"Only white-lighter magic is tainted in one direction," the Source countered swiftly. "There is no such thing as Evil magic."

The Seer shook her head. "Ah, but there is." She turned and faced the Source again. "How do you turn a witch Evil?"

"By making them kill an innocent," the Source answered, a smirk appearing on his face. "To balance magic, we must somehow get a good witch to kill an innocent during the ceremony? That would be…"

"Difficult," the Seer nodded. "I agree. Especially since to balance all the Good magic that was released by the death of the white-lighter and the Elders, it would have to be a very powerful witch that turned evil."

The Source looked up, his smirk growing. "Then it might not be that difficult after all…"

And the Seer smiled, knowing that she and the Source were both thinking the same thing.

* * *

Next Chapter: The Assassin Inside 

Due: Sun 7/2


	47. The Assassin Inside

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: As is indicated by the title, this chapter focuses a lot on Bianca. For this reason, I've actually decided to jump back to the witch hunters timeline for a moment. This is the last chapter that this timeline will appear in (for real this time) so anything that is not resolved in this chapter will be left up to your imagination.

Also, in response to some of the reviews, the person that the Seer and the Source are going to attempt to turn evil is, in a way, kind of obvious, but it also is not the blatantly obvious one that I am sure many people are expecting. And that is all I am going to say at the moment.

* * *

Chapter Forty-Six: The Assassin Inside

Several days earlier in a different timeline:

"_Did you think I was going to make this easy for you?" the demon sneered. He was tall and handsome in his human form, but there was something about his eyes, a slight tinge of red, that made him look cruel and vicious. He formed an energy ball in his hand and smirked at the terrified witch in front of him. "Did you think you could ever beat me?"_

_Melinda picked herself up off the ground and climbed slowly and painfully to her feet. Her dark hair fell in front of her eyes, masking the large bruise that was spreading across her left cheek, directly under her eye. She was shaking, as though the strain of standing up was too much for her._

_But she glared defiantly at the demon and snarled, "Go to hell!"_

"_Been there, done that," the demon laughed, and through the energy ball. Melinda raised her hands and froze the energy before it could hit her. The demon waved his hand, and the energy ball unfroze. Melinda threw herself sideways, crashing to the floor, pain shooting up her side._

_Piper appeared at that moment, standing in the doorway to the sunroom, having just come into the house. She raised her hands and effortlessly blew up the demon, who, having not seen her, was unable to protect himself from her attack. Then she ran towards her daughter, calling out, "Kyle! Kyle!"_

_The white-lighter appeared instantly, orbing in and looking around. "What's wrong?" he asked, then he caught sight of the bruises on Melinda's face and arms and quickly extended his hands to heal her. She smiled gratefully as the warmth spread through her, slowly and surely removing her wounds._

_Piper pulled Melinda away from Kyle and hugged her tightly. "What happened?" she asked breathlessly._

"_I don't know," Melinda replied. "I came over to drop off the book I had borrowed yesterday, and you guys weren't here, so I was just going to leave it on the table and go. But them the demon attacked, he did something, every time I tried to orb out, some gesture with his hand like he was stopping me from leaving." She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them and said. "I'm glad you made it." Then her eyes widened in sudden worry. "Where's Penny?" _

"_Still outside," Piper replied. "I told her not to come in when I heard the sound of fighting." She turned and called out, "Penny? It's safe to come in now."_

_Penny slunk into the room and glared at her aunt. "I could have helped," she snapped irritably before turning and, without another word, walking up the stairs._

_Melinda glanced at the direction her cousin had gone, then turned to her mother and said, "I'm going to get some water, Mom." She walked out of the sunroom, and Piper turned to Kyle in concern._

"_Isn't enough that he killed my sister and my husband?" she snarled. "Does the Source have to try to kill my daughter also?" Prue's and Leo's deaths had not been too long ago, only a few months, and the thought of it still hurt so much Piper could hardly breathe. "I'm going to stop him," she vowed. "One way or another, I'm going to stop him!"_

_Kyle nodded. "Be careful," he said. He had only been the Charmed One's white-lighter for a few months, ever since Leo had died, but he knew enough about her to know that she would not listen to him if he told her that going after the Source was too perilous. Instead, it was better just to help her with the plan, and try to keep her alive that way._

"_I will," Piper replied briskly. "But I intend on keeping Melinda and Penny alive as well."_

_And what had followed was seven months of continual demon vanquishes as the Underworld discovered just how dangerous the wrath of Piper Halliwell could be._

Piper felt as though she was spinning around in circles. The world was a mass of colors and shapes, of feelings and emotions that ran through her blood. She felt sick and scared and confident and ecstatic and terrified all at once. It was as though everything was circling her, over and over and over again, memories and mementos, thoughts and dreams, around and around and around…

And the next thing she knew she was standing in the sunroom of her own home, watching as several demons attempted to kill her niece while her white-lighter extended his hands over her daughter's still body and tried to heal her.

Piper threw up her hands and vanquished the several of the demons. Then she ran to Penny, grabbing her by the wrist and throwing her other hand out to Kyle. "Get us out of here!" she ordered, instinct taking over.

Kyle interlocked his fingers with hers and took hold of Melinda, and orbed them all away. As the white orbs disappeared, the attacking Khail paused and then shimmered out, leaving the room empty.

Or, at least, almost empty.

Bianca stepped out of kitchen and looked around the sunroom. The coffee table had been over turned, a light was shattered, and the grandfather clock had broken into fragments. Blood stained the floor where Melinda had fallen.

The Phoenix walked further into the room, her eyes sweeping over everything. She inhaled the air, holding it in her lungs. It burned slightly, just slight enough that only a trained assassin would be able to recognize it for what it was.

Smoke leftover from fire balls.

Bianca walked over to the blood stain that spread out across the ground. She summoned a vial and knelt down next to the dark red stain. Conjuring an athame, she carefully scraped some of the blood from the ground and rubbed it on the inside of the vial. It wasn't much, but it would be enough to make a potion.

She wondered suddenly if the Khail realized how coincidently well timed their attack was. They could not have had any idea of what the Source was planning, but they had managed a distraction at just the right time. Bianca had not fancied the task of trying to get blood from one of the Halliwells on her own, although she did not doubt that she could do it.

She straightened and capped the vial. Licking her lips, she took one last look at the room. As she did so, her eyes fell on the family portrait on the wall, which had somehow miraculously stayed intact during the fight. It showed Piper, Prue, and Phoebe, smiling out at the room.

Her eyes stayed on Piper for a moment, and then she felt the strange sensation once again, as a memory not quite hers filled her mind.

"_Hey, Future Girl!"_

"_Ah… I could kill her in half the time it takes you to even think about."_

"_But we still have enough potion to vanquish you."_

"_Maybe, but then you really would have to hope the Power of Two would do, won't you, Paige?" _

She shoved the thought away as her sixth sense picked up a sudden threat. She pocketed the vial and conjured an athame, already turning to face her opponent before she had a chance to fully register who her opponent was.

An Elder.

Bianca grimaced as she shimmered out of the way of the blast of energy. There was not much she could do to kill him, not without a dark-lighter arrow. Still, she could knock him unconscious, and maybe that would be enough.

She appeared behind him, reaching out with one hand and grabbing his right arm, pinning it behind him and slamming her other hand, palm forward, into the small of his back. He groaned, and fell to his knees, twisting to look up at her. He raised his free hand, and she barely managed to shimmer out before the energy left his fingertips, crackling through the air.

She reappeared again, this time directly to his left, and kicked him hard in the side. He slumped forward, and she dropped to her knees, smashing her elbow into his collar bone and heard the resounding crack that signaled a bone had broken.

Gideon fell to the floor, unconscious.

Bianca paused for a moment, unsure of what to do. Then she shrugged. She was an assassin, and he wasn't part of the contract. She had no reason to report what had happened to the Source, or to try and kill him. She would leave him here. If Evil found him before he woke up, then he would probably die, but it was not her concern.

She took the vial of blood out of her pocket and stared at it for a moment. It would be a tricky potion to perfect, but then, the entire plan with the human girl… Courtney, was it?... was a tricky plan. Still, she was an assassin, and the best of the elite. She had no doubt she would succeed.

A Phoenix did not fail.

She shimmered away.

* * *

"Do you think any demons know when the ceremony is going to take place?" Piper asked as she paced back and forth across the kitchen floor.

Phoebe considered this for a moment, then shook her head. "No, I don't think so. I don't think the Seer or the Source would take that risk." She leaned against the counter and watched her older sister pace. Behind her, Paige sat, resting her chin on the palm of her hand, one elbow propped up on the table.

Bianca had left moments ago, telling them that she needed to inform the Phoenixes of their decision. Phoebe had asked Chris to orb over to Jason's to see if Prue was ready to come back to the Manor. That left the three sisters alone to strategize their next move.

"Can we just attack the Citadel?" Paige questioned. "Why do we have to wait for a specific time?"

Piper pursed her lips. "If what Bianca said is true, then the ceremony has to be done at a certain time. Which means that our best chance of stopping the Source is to attack at that time. If we attack to early, he might still have time to regroup before releasing the Hollow." She frowned for a moment, then repeated, "If what Bianca says is true…" The words came out through clenched teeth. For Chris' sake, she was trying to make an effort. But this was Bianca, and it was just so hard to be civil to her.

Paige gave a grim nod and voiced what she knew both her sisters were thinking, "And that's a pretty big if."

Piper turned to Phoebe curiously. "Could you get a reading from her?" she asked.

"From Bianca?" Phoebe shook her head. "No, I couldn't." She thought for a moment, then said, "Actually, I don't think I've ever gotten a reading from her."

"I wonder why she's blocking you?" Piper mused suspiciously. "What does she have to hide?"

Paige nodded in agreement, but then asked, "Do you think she would hurt Chris? Because whether or not I personally trust her, I don't get the feeling that she would ever do anything to hurt him."

Piper acquiesced to her sister's point of view with a sharp nod. "I don't think she would either. But that still doesn't mean I trust her completely." She paused in her pacing and walked over to the chair next to Paige, sinking into it with a sigh. "I don't have any reason to believe that she and the Phoenixes _don't_ have their own agenda."

"Do you think we should take back our agreement to work with them?" Paige ventured, knowing even as the words left her lips that it was a bad suggestion.

"I don't think we can. What choice do we really have?" Piper pointed out.

"We worked with the Khail to get Piper back after the spell sent her to the other timeline," Phoebe pointed out, "and look where it got us. Prue almost died."

"I don't know if I would equate Bianca and Sarina," Piper objected, although she was slightly swayed by Phoebe's statement.

"Why not?" Phoebe asked with a shrug. "Sarina helped us, but she had her own agenda as well. Who's to say the Phoenixes don't?"

There was logic to Phoebe's argument, and both Piper and Paige nodded warily. Still, there was little they could do at this point, because they needed the Phoenixes to keep the world from ending. They lapsed into a tense silence, each worried and nervous.

Finally, Paige broke the silence and asked, "So how do we figure out when the Ceremony is going to take place?"

Phoebe tapped her fingers carelessly against the countertop, thinking. "What do we know about this ceremony?" she asked at last.

"Very little," Piper replied quickly.

"Well, besides the Source and the Seer, is there anyone else involved in it? A priest of priestess? Someone who would know when the Ceremony us to take place?"

Piper shrugged. "Maybe, but we have no way of knowing that."

"You know," Paige said thoughtfully, "even if the Seer and the Source are the only ones actually performing the ceremony, they're still going to need outside help." She looked at her two sisters. "If they are trapped in Hell, they are ghosts, spirits. They can't touch the things in our world, right?"

Piper and Phoebe nodded.

"So someone else is going to have to open the box the Hollow is in," Paige finished.

"It could be anyone," Piper objected. "Some random demon. There is no reason why the Source of the Seer would tell anyone what they need to do before they actually need to do it."

"Granted it has been a long time since we fought the Source, but still… does that really seem like his style? Just using any old demon to do his work?" Paige countered. "This is the end of everything. It's big and important, and not something he would entrust to just anyone."

She had a point, and Phoebe and Piper exchanged a glance. "Who would it be?" Piper wondered. "Who would he turn to for this?"

"It would have to be someone powerful," Paige said, "both magically powerful and powerful within the Underworld hierarchy."

"And someone that the Source trusts," Piper added.

"And someone who had a knowledge of Dark Ceremonies," Paige pointed out with a nod.

"But who? All the demons or warlocks that fit that bill, we've already vanquished," Phoebe asked.

Piper and Paige exchanged a glance, both coming to the same conclusion at the same time. "No…" Piper said, standing up, rage and fury suddenly flooding her features. "Not all of them." And she walked from the room.

* * *

"Prue?" Chris appeared in his cousin's room, glancing around. She was sitting on the bed, her eyes bloodshot, her body shaking. She looked up briefly at the sound of her name, then looked back down at her knees, which she had pulled into her chest, and said nothing.

Chris walked over to the bed and sat down next to her, reaching out to place a hand around her shoulders. She flinched and drew away from him, averting her eyes. "Go away," she muttered.

"No," Chris said simply, swallowing the lump that formed in his throat at the sight of his cousin in so much pain.

Prue pushed herself off the bed abruptly and stalked over to the door, yanking it open. She stepped into the hallway and slammed the door shut behind her. Jason appeared in the doorway to his room, concern in his eyes at the sound of the commotion coming from his daughter's room. He gave Prue a questioning look, but she ignored it and walked into the living room.

Jason started towards her, but Chris stepped out of Prue's room at that moment and held out a hand to stop his uncle. "Let me," he whispered.

Jason gave a reluctant nod, but stayed in the hallway, listening and watching as Chris walked towards Prue.

"Prue?" Chris tried again.

She was sitting on an armchair by the fireplace, curled into a ball, her open eyes filled with tears that didn't fall. "Go away, Chris," she managed to say in a strangled voice.

"Why won't you talk to me?" Chris asked. He paused in the doorway to the living room, not wanting to go any further in case Prue left again, but still unwilling to abandon his cousin despite her request. "Tell me what's wrong." It wasn't like her to hide her feelings from him. Maybe from her parents or aunts and uncles… _uncle_, Chris reminded himself with a heavy heart. _Singular, just one_.

Prue looked at him for a moment, then said, "I saw… those dreams… memories… whatever the Khail did to me… I _saw_."

"Saw what?" Chris pressed, although he already knew the answer.

"I saw who I was. I saw what I did. I saw the type of person that I could become if I…"

"No," Chris interrupted forcefully. "That person isn't you, Prue. You aren't going to betray me, you aren't going to…"

"How do you know that?" Prue hissed. "I'm not Wyatt, I wasn't _turned_. I became that person, that traitor, all on my own." She angrily brushed away a few stray tears that had slipped from her eyes. "I did it by myself," she said again, her voice softer, but still filled with the same anger and pain.

"Prue, listen to me…" Chris started.

"No. No, you listen to me!" Prue snapped. "You think you can come in here and tell me that everything is going to be okay? That I'm not going to become that person?" She shook her head and swung her feet over the side of the chair, then stood up slowly. "You know as well as I do that those are all lies. It's not okay. It's _never_ going to be okay!"

"No, it isn't," Chris agreed, thinking of his own memories, of the person he was once, and the way his life used to be. "It isn't going to be okay, because I can still remember the cruelty in Wyatt's eyes, the way Dad just turned and walked away from me, what Mom looked like as she lay on the ground, covered in blood… It isn't going to be okay." He looked Prue straight in the eyes. "But you can talk to me about it. You can tell me what you're going through, what you're feeling. Because I'm feeling it also."

Prue felt her anger lessen a little at the grieved and sympathetic look in Chris' eyes, but she slowly shook her head.

"No," she said softly, her words barely audible. "No, you're not feeling the same thing I am. You look at your other life, and you see it with anger and pain. I look at my other life, and I see it with guilt and shame." She ran a hand through her hair, trying to find a way to put into words what she was feeling. "You complained that you were left out of magic, that you didn't have a destiny like the rest of us. But I… God, I would give anything to not have my destiny."

"What do you mean?" Chris asked with narrowed eyes. "You grew up with magic, you love it."

"Yeah," Prue replied sarcastically. "Because knowing that you are responsible for protecting innocents all over the world, that people you care about are going to die, that you are going to be constantly under attack, that no matter how many times you stop Evil, it's going to keep coming back…" She rolled her eyes. "Who wouldn't want that?" she spat sarcastically.

Chris raised an eyebrow. "You never felt that way before, Prue. Before, you accepted that this was your destiny, and you embraced it. You _wanted_ to protect those innocents."

Prue nodded slowly. "Yeah, I did. Because it was all I really knew. We've always been magical, Chris. We've always known who we are and who we are going to be. But now…" Her eyes were dry now, but they still burned as though the salt water had not quite gone away. She swatted at them, knowing there was nothing to push away, and wondering why she couldn't cry anymore. "Now I've seen the type of person that I can become. That other version of me, she became the person she did because she valued saving innocents, saving the world, more than anything else. It was her life, it was _everything_ for her. It was her identity, her sense of self. And she let it turn her into something I never want to be. But I see why and how she became that person, and I know that I could do that also. It doesn't seem like such a far off possibility now that I remember who she was and how she felt and what made her the person that she became. And I am _so_ scared. Because now… now I feel like I am standing at the edge of this cliff, and if I take one wrong step, I'm going to fall… and I can't… I can't live with myself if I become _her_."

"You won't be that person," Chris repeated, and when Prue opened her mouth to protest, he raised a hand and said, "Let me finish. I know what you are scared of, and I'm not going to pretend that it isn't a possibility." He walked over to Prue, silently thankful that she did not back away, and pushed her back into the seat. He sat down in the chair across from her and said, "There is one major difference between you and the other Prue."

"And what's that?" Prue asked skeptically, folding her arms across her chest.

"Us," Chris said simply. "We were at war, Prue. That entire timeline had been destroyed, twisted into a hellish world. Our family was dead, we were fighting for our lives against one of our own, and we were so scared, so lost. No one knew what to do anymore, and the word family didn't mean as much, because Wyatt was our family and our enemy, and we didn't know which one mattered more." He looked away, his eyes darkening as he remembered that other life. He still did not have the full set of memories, and chance were he was never going to get all of them. All he would remember were bits and pieces of a past that no longer existed, and the overall feeling of despair and fear that filled every moment of that other future.

"Chris?" Prue asked tentatively, not liking the dark and weary look that appeared in her cousin's eyes.

"You stood at the edge of that cliff, and you fell, and we were so busy trying to save ourselves that we didn't notice you," Chris murmured. "You fell, and we… we let it happen." He looked back at Prue, a determined expression on his face. "That's not going to happen this time. Our family isn't destroyed. You have your parents, my parents, Wyatt and I, Aunt Paige, Mel and Pen… and even if you get to the very edge of that cliff, even if you start to fall, we'll be here to pull you back before you hit the bottom."

In the hallway, Jason leaned against the door and silently thanked God that even if he was having problems with Phoebe and her sisters right now, the entire family was still there for Prue, and they always would be. There had always been this fear in the pit of his stomach, one that he could not quite identify until that moment. He had been afraid that Prue would be forced to choose between Phoebe and him.

But now he realized how foolish he was being, because what Chris said was true. They would always be there for her, to pull her back from whatever metaphorical cliff she was afraid of falling from.

You divorce husbands, not children.

* * *

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Phoebe asked worriedly as she looked around the empty attic. She and Piper were standing in front of the Book, staring at one of the entries. The three sisters had come up to the attic moments before to find the place in shambles, and Pen sobbing in Wyatt's arms. After ascertaining that Pen was just upset and not physically hurt, Paige had taken her daughter downstairs, and Wyatt had accompanied them, leaving Phoebe and Piper in alone.

"Leo is still up there, Paige is dealing with Pen, Wyatt is with them, and Chris is over at Jason's house talking to Prue," Piper pointed out. "We need someone who can take us to the Underworld, and I don't think we have any other choice."

"What happened to not trusting her?" Phoebe questioned.

Piper gave a grim smirk. "I never said I _trusted_ her, Phoebe. But she can shimmer. Besides, if she has another agenda, perhaps it will become clear if I spend more time with her. At the very least, I'd rather have her close than far away, where we can't keep an eye on her."

"Fine," Phoebe said, somewhat reluctantly. "Have Bianca take you to the Underworld and see if you can locate our demon. I'll start on some potions, and fill the others in when they get back."

Piper nodded. "Keep an eye on Paige, Mel, and Pen, also," she requested, and Phoebe nodded silently.

"Be safe," Phoebe murmured as Piper started to read the summoning spell for her soon-to-be daughter-in-law.

* * *

Leo opened his eyes and looked around the cloud filled hallway. The other Elders bustled about him, communing with each other and the white-lighters.

He sighed and shook his head. He had been keeping an eye on the others while he tried to figure out which of set of three had the Power of Three, and now he was slightly worried. His wife wanted to venture to the Underworld with Bianca, where she would be completely at the Phoenix's mercy. What if Bianca just shimmered away and left her?

Pen was blaming magic and her father for her pain and grief, Prue was afraid of the person she could become, and they were hunting for a demon he never even wanted to think about again.

But the things Chris and Wyatt had said to their respective cousins… He gave a smile of appreciation. Once again, his sons had made him proud.

Leo sighed. Once Piper went to the Underworld, he wouldn't be able to sense her anymore, unless he was down there as well. But he didn't want to run the risk of leaving her alone with Bianca, not when he still didn't fully trust the supposedly-reformed assassin.

After seeing what he had seen, he had a fairly good idea of where the Power of Three had gone. Deciding that he could worry about the details of that later, he orbed after his wife into the Underworld, determined to trial her at a distance and make sure she made it out alive.

* * *

"So, what's the plan?" Piper asked from her hiding spot as she eyed the demons in the cave in front of her. She and Bianca were crouched behind a rocky wall that jutted out into a long corridor. In the cave just beyond them, several demons were gathered for what was clearly an important meeting. Although they didn't know what the meeting was about, it was obvious that this many upper level demons gathering in one place so soon before the Ceremony could not be a coincidence. "Attack them? Force them to tell us?"

"No," Bianca replied softly. "They are far too powerful to be forced into anything. We need to trick them into telling us."

Piper raised an eyebrow skeptically and asked, "And how do we do that?"

"We don't," Bianca said, conjuring an athame. "_I_ do." She stood up, her eyes still trained on the gathered demons, and ordered coolly, "Wait here." Then she moved away from the hiding spot and entered the cave with a confident stride.

"Who are you?" the first demon snarled, conjuring a fireball. He gave Bianca a once-over and licked his lips, staring openly at her body.

Bianca lifted her arm and displayed the Phoenix mark on the underside of her forearm. "Who I am doesn't matter," she said icily. "All that you need to know is that I was hired me to make sure that we don't have any…_unwelcome guests_…during the ceremony."

The second demon frowned and replied suspiciously, "No one told us any assassins were being hired."

"Obviously," Bianca replied contemptuously. "Why would anyone waste time telling _you_ all the details of their master plan?" she asked derisively.

The demons bristled at that, and the first demon spoke up again. "Why should we believe you? Where's the proof? And why would the Source hire an assassin and not one of us?"

Bianca smirked. "Because you might be good at attacking witches, but I'm good at earning their trust and learning their secrets." She folded her arms across her chest, still holding the athame in her hand. "Don't be naïve. That Halliwells know that the Source is planning a way of killing them, and they are bound to attack. The Source hired me to get close to them, to throw them off balance so that they wouldn't be able to stop him."

"What do you want with us, assassin?" a third demon questioned, glaring at her.

Bianca smiled. "I need to know how much time I have before the Source starts his plan."

"Why should we tell you that?" a fourth demon asked, flicking a forked tongue at the Phoenix. "Why do you even want to know?"

Bianca carelessly vanquished him with a well placed energy ball to the chest. Before the other demons had time to react, she had shimmered over to the first demon and grabbed him by the shoulders, shoving him backward and pinning him up against the wall. "Do you want to end up like your demon friend, or are you going to help me?" she hissed.

The first demon cast a side long look at the pile of ashes were his companion had stood, then turned back to Bianca. "Why don't you ask the Source?"

"Are you really that dense?" Bianca mocked. "I can't ask the Source, because the Halliwells think I am their friend. I can't run the risk of them finding out, through rumors or premonitions, that I even talked to the Source."

"And if they find out that you talked to us?" the demon questioned.

Bianca shoved the athame harder against his throat, drawing a drop of blood. "I'll tell them I was just vanquishing demons," she replied icily. "Which I'm tempted to do now if you don't tell me what I want to know."

Around her, the other demons shifted, nervous, clearly not knowing what to believe.

"Give us proof who you are," another demon spoke up.

Moving too fast for the demons to even see what had happened, Bianca flung an energy ball at the demon who had spoken. It was a low energy ball, only meant to hurt him, and he stepped back, hissing with pain and anger.

Through all of that, Bianca kept the athame at the first demon's throat.

"You want me to take you to the Source?" Bianca whispered, her voice filled with deadly venom. "He is really busy at the moment, and probably wouldn't… _appreciate_… the interruption, but I have no doubt he could offer you undeniable _proof_ of who I am." Her tone left little doubt that it was a threat.

The demons swallowed, visibly nervous. They had no desire to interrupt the Source. "We don't know when the Ceremony is supposed to take place," he said slowly. "But another demon does." He narrowed his eyes and asked coldly, "But you should know that already, shouldn't you? If you truly work for the Source, you should know who the other demon is."

"I do," Bianca said. "But I don't know how to reach him, and he has a knack for avoiding my summons." She stepped back and the athame disappeared, releasing the demon. "You can tell me where he is."

The first demon frowned, then said, "Tell us who it is. Prove that you truly do know what is going on, and I'll tell you what you want to know."

Bianca smirked. She knew the demons were expecting her not to know, so she kept her confident façade and she stared at them. Inside, her heart beat frantically as she pushed her fear away and silently prayed that Piper had been right in her guessing of this demon's identity.

"Barbas," she answered self-assuredly.

The demons were stunned. They all turned to look at the first demon, who nodded slowly and said, "Very well, you do know." He licked his lips and said, "He's hiding out in a cave."

Bianca rolled her eyes. "There are many caves in the Underworld," she pointed out contemptuously. "Which one?"

The demon smirked. "I don't know the details. All I know is it a cave that holds the most anger, fear, and pain for the Charmed Ones." His eyes flashed with mirth. "If you really have convinced them that you are on their side, why don't you ask them which cave that is?"

"I will," Bianca replied with a nod.

Then she conjured an athame and vanquished two of the demons before anyone had time to react.

The remaining demons howled in rage and attacked her. She kicked one to the ground and effortlessly tossed another away from her. Two quick punches and a succession of kicks later, she had vanquished all but one of the demons.

"Why where you meeting here?" she demanded. "What were you planning?"

The demon growled and said nothing, meeting Bianca's gaze defiantly. He flicked his forked tongue again, and sent her a chilling smile.

"Tell me!" Bianca ordered, pushing her athame hard against the demon's throat. The edge of the blade drew blood.

The demon laughed and shook his head. Bianca sighed and, knowing they would get nothing from him, shoved her athame forward, vanquishing the demon. She watched him fall to dust with a shrug. It wasn't as though she really needed to know why they were meeting, it was probably just another conclave of demons meeting to strategize how to best destroy Good now that they believed the Source was back.

Piper stepped out of her hiding place and stared at Bianca, apprehensive and distrustful. Bianca might be reformed, but she still knew how to act and fight like an assassin, and the unemotional efficiency of the vanquishes had unnerved the Charmed One.

Bianca turned and looked at the expression in Piper's face. "I know, I know," she said coldly, sending her an icy smile. Her eyes traveled from Piper to a spot further out in the passage way, where another set of rocks built a nook in the wall, a perfect hiding place. "Once an assassin, always an assassin, right Leo?" she called out, and Leo stepped out of the hiding place and stared at her in confusion.

"How did you…?"

Bianca shook her head and didn't reply. "You heard the demon. Figure out where the cave is and find Barbus." Then she pushed past the witch and the Elder and strode through the passage way, shimmering away mid-stride.

After a moment of hesitation, Leo turned to Piper and said, "The cave where they tried to turn Wyatt."

Piper nodded. "Take me there," she said viciously.

Leo nodded, and orbed the two of them away.

* * *

Several days earlier in a different timeline:

The Elder was dead. She knew that it had happened, although she was unsure about which demon had discovered the unconscious man in the Halliwells' sunroom and decided to kill him.

She found she didn't really care.

It was not her problem.

She turned and looked at the terrified human girl. A strange feeling rose in her stomach, and she wondered what it was. She wasn't sure she had ever felt it before.

And then she knew.

It was guilt.

She shoved that thought away. It didn't matter who or what she was in some other timeline, in mattered what she was here.

An assassin.

A Phoenix.

She looked up at the clock on the wall. Almost time for the Halliwells to appear.

And she knew they would, they had no choice.

She clutched the potion bottle tighter.

She would not fail.

* * *

Next Chapter: Issues of Trust 

Due: Sun 7/9


	48. Issues of Trust

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: Thanks for the reviews. Well, folks, we are reaching the final stages of the story. I felt like I should remind you that the last few chapters all took place over the course of a single day (it hasn't been that long since Kyle died) so the absence of Mel in the past two chapters means that she's only been absent for a few hours. She hasn't disappeared or anything.

* * *

Chapter Forty-Seven: Issues of Trust

Mel stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her face was pale, her dark eyes shadowed. Her brown hair was uncombed, and fell in a tangled limp mess around her shoulders. She shivered, suddenly freezing cold despite the heat.

From the stairs below, she could hear the sound of her mother and Pen talking. She couldn't hear distinct words, just the rise and fall of the familiar voices. She knew Wyatt and Phoebe were down there as well, but they hadn't said anything in a while, so she was unsure if they were still part of the conversation. Piper had left with Bianca earlier, and Leo still hadn't come back home. Prue was over with Jason, and Chris had gone to get her, but he also had not yet returned.

It seemed as though everyone had somewhere to be or someone to talk to.

Everyone but her.

How long had it been since her father's death? How long had it been since she had sat in the basement unable to cry? How long since the tears had finally come and she had fallen asleep, her mother sitting next to her?

Pen was angry. Mel had heard the sound of exploding bottles and furniture coming from the attic, had heard shouts, and knew that her sister was angry. But Wyatt had been there, and he had talked to her, and somehow she had calmed down. And then her mother had come into the attic, and seen the mess, and she had run to comfort her daughter.

Pen was lost in her grieving. Mel understood that, understood what it was like to be so confused, so hurt, so… furious.

But Pen wasn't the only one who was hurting right now. Yes, the shock had worn off. Yes, she had cried. Yes, she had done all the things that one would expect a grieving child to do. and maybe she was quieter than her more outgoing twin. Maybe she kept all of her pain inside, and so the others thought that she was okay.

Or, at least, as okay as one could be after the death of her father.

But she was hurting.

She was hurting so much, so much, and they just didn't… they didn't notice. But she was quiet in her grief, staying alone, aloof. It wasn't that she didn't want people to take care of her, it was that she didn't know how to tell them that she wasn't okay.

She didn't yell or scream or destroy the attic.

Maybe that was the problem. Maybe she just wasn't being loud enough. Or maybe the others were so caught up in their own grief that they just didn't see, didn't hear, her cries for help.

Could she blame them for that? Kyle was their family also, and they were grieving as well. She was not the only one feeling this pain, and…

And they were hurting.

And yet, when Pen had started screaming, Wyatt and Paige had been there for her. Someone had noticed, someone had cared.

Mel wondered vaguely, if she started screaming, what would happen?

Would people realize that she was drowning also?

* * *

Bianca shimmered into her apartment and found, to her immense pleasure, that it was empty. She didn't want to deal with the other members of her clan right now, and she certainly didn't want to deal with her mother.

She walked over to her sofa and flopped down onto it, running a hand through her long hair and briefly closing her eyes. She could still perfectly see the look of suspicion and distrust on Piper and Leo's faces as they stared at her in the dimly lit cavern.

It shouldn't bother her.

She told herself that, over and over.

It shouldn't bother her what they thought. She knew they weren't going to like her, had known it all along. It didn't matter, because Chris loved her, and she loved him. That was what was important, that was all she needed to worry about.

Right?

She shook her head. No, not right. Definitely not right.

The Halliwells stuck together, as a family. They were nothing if not loyal. In that respect, she guessed they were like the Phoenixes. If Piper and Leo didn't like her, how long would it be before everyone else rejected her as well?

And Chris? In the end, which side would he be on?

They didn't trust her.

Did she trust them?

The other Phoenixes certainly didn't.

And that also was a topic of concern. If no one in her family accepted Chris, what would happen if she chose to stay with him? Would she ever be able to see them again, or would it be too awkward, too uncomfortable, for her and Chris. How could she marry him, and not align herself with the Halliwells in her family's eyes.

Her mother would stay on her side, that much she knew. And Matt. But the others…?

She was not so sure.

She thought idly that Prue might also stay on their side. The oldest of Chris' cousins had at least seemed to accept her when they had met. She knew nothing of Pen of Mel, but maybe they would accept her as well. It was only the older generation she had to worry about… and maybe Wyatt.

Still, could they do that?

Could she marry Chris, even knowing that it could cost her quite a few members of her family? Could he marry her, even knowing how much his parents and Aunts would disapprove?

Marriage… They hadn't said anything about it, hadn't even broached the subject, but they were thinking about it. They both were, ever since Lynn had revealed that they were engaged in another timeline, ever since Chris had received some of his memories.

So many questions, not enough answers.

* * *

The rage left almost as soon as it had appeared.

It had welled up inside him, a vicious mass of emotion that refused to release its hold on him, refused to back down. The electricity crackled at his fingertips, seeming to move of its own accord. It screamed inside him, wanting revenge, wanting justice, wanting… wanting anything that would make the memory of his youngest son dying disappear.

And then the rage was gone, and all that was left in the middle of the room was a cowering demon lying on the floor surrounded by the burnt scorch marks where the electricity had bounced off the stone.

Leo took a few deep shuddering breaths. His vision was hazy, tears swimming in his blue eyes. He brushed them away with the back of his hand, and stared coldly at the demon before him.

Piper was standing by the side of the entrance to the cave. Her entire body was tense, ready to blow up or freeze the demon should he try to escape. But after the first blast of energy from Leo, she had realized it was pointless; she wasn't going to be needed.

Barbus pushed himself to his knees and then clambered slowly to his feet. He could feel the fear resounding in the room, and realized in surprise that it was his own. He felt almost no emotion from the Elder in front of him, and only hatred and rage from the witch.

And then, quite suddenly, he felt his body stiffen as though trapped in a cage. He frowned, confused about what was happening, then turned his head slightly and realized the witch had lifted her hands and flicked her wrists at him.

"You can't freeze me, Piper," Barbas smirked. The invisible binds were dropping away from him even as he spoke. "I'm immune to your powers."

"Not to mine," Leo said casually, and Barbus warily eyed the Elder's crackling fingers.

The Demon of Fear realized abruptly that it would be of no use trying to use his power on these two. The only thing he could truly do at this point would be to run, and although that idea galled his pride, he knew it was his only chance.

So he shimmered out.

Or, at least, tried to.

Mid-shimmer, a sudden blast hit him in the chest, causing him to fall back into the room. He groaned as he slid to his hands and knees, then lifted his head to glance at the eldest Charmed One again.

She smirked at him. "I may not be able to freeze you, probably can't even blow you up all the way, but I can still keep you from leaving."

Leo glanced back at his wife, then over at Barbus. He took a step forward and said, "You're going to tell us when the Ceremony for the Source is going to take place." It was a sharp order, a command.

Barbus sneered and pulled himself to his feet, his cocky grin firmly in place. When he didn't say anything, Leo took another threatening step forward, the energy bursting from one hand.

The Elder did not attack, however. He merely regarded Barbus for a moment, then asked, "Do you know what the Source is trying to do? Do you have any idea what it is you'll be helping him with? Or did you fall for his lies like every other demon here?"

Barbus scoffed. "Of course I know…"

"Do you?" Piper murmured, her voice soft, but underlined with steel. "Did he tell you how he is trying to bring about the end of the world? Of everything? Did he explain why the Hollow needs to be released? Did he tell you how it will throw everything into oblivion?"

Barbus glanced over at her and said nothing, his eyes still mocking her.

Piper shook her head. "You know, it's ironic. If it wasn't for you and Gideon, Chris would never have had to come back in time. It Chris hadn't come back, the Source would never have been able to use his two different lives to start linking fate together. So, in a way, not only are you performing the final task to end everything, but you also performed the first one in the Source's screwed up plan."

It was the first time either Piper or Leo had ever seen the Demon of Fear look unsure.

But then Barbus just laughed and stepped forward. He raised a hand, running it over Leo's face, and, too his surprise, the Elder did nothing to stop him. He stepped back, having seen the Elder's worst fear, and raised an eyebrow.

"Your worst fear is that you'll be forced to leave your family again, hm?" he said with a smile. "Really, now, do you think that trying to stop the Source is a good idea? Every time you've gone up against something powerful, you've lost a bit of yourself. The Titans, Gideon, the Avatars… who's to say the fight with the Source won't push you even further away from your family?"

Piper glanced sharply at Leo, worried that she would lose him again, lose him to that person he had once become so long ago.

A million memories rushed through Leo's mind. Piper, begging him to come home with her, reaching out her hand as the goddess powers slowly consumed her, powered by her grief and rage. Chris, angry and hurt, turning away from him, _you were never there for me_… The avatars manipulating him as he ran from the truth of the Elder he had killed. Everything Barbus had done, everything the demon had taken from him.

It had been over twenty years since he had seen Barbus. Twenty years, and there were times when the only thing he wanted was to find a way to make this demon burn forever in hell.

But now that he had finally caught up with Barbus, he didn't see red.

Red. Fire. Fire, he decided, caused more damage to the person within whom it burned.

Barbus stared at him in shock, how could the Elder have _not_ been affected by his powers? How could he have gotten over his greatest fear so easily?

Leo looked Barbus straight in the eye and said, "This isn't about my fears. This is about the Source's fears, and what we are going to do to make sure they come true."

* * *

Pen sat on a stool at the kitchen counter, watching silently as her mother added a few drops of essence of myrtle to the potion. Her eyes were bloodshot, her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, but the anger had drained from her, and now she sat there, feeling empty.

When would this get easier?

Wyatt had left to find Chris, because, as Phoebe had pointed out, he had been gone much longer than was actually necessary if all he was doing was picking up Prue. Phoebe paced back and forth across the kitchen floor, staring at her calendar.

"What are you doing?" Paige asked at last, glancing back at Phoebe in confusion.

Phoebe didn't respond for a moment, then she said, "I have a meeting with Elise tomorrow. And then Prue and I were going to go meet with her college counselor to make sure she is on track for finishing her college applications by the first of the year." She blinked for a moment, then flipped the page of her day planner. "Next week Jason and I have a meeting with out divorce lawyer. And I'm supposed to have lunch with one of the new writers at the paper, you know, to help get her settled in."

Paige nodded slowly. "Well, hopefully you will be able to do all of those things next week," she said. But the unspoken sentence lingered in the air.

_Unless, of course, the world ends. _

Paige reached for the calendar and glanced at the dates. "Mel has a dentist appointment next week," she said. "And Pen's supposed to get her hair cut. I think I've got a meeting some day next week, but I don't remember when…"

Pen joined in suddenly, "I have a report due next Tuesday that I haven't done the research for yet. And Mel and I wanted to see that new movie that came out last week…"

The air swirled with orbs, and Chris, Wyatt, and Prue appeared. But neither Paige, Phoebe, nor Pen seemed to notice, instead they continued talking about their plans for the next week.

"Prue has a date with Justin, I told her she could use the car…"

"Pen and I were supposed to go shopping because she needs a new coat before the winter…"

"And I wanted to try out for track for the spring…"

"My car needs an oil change…"

"Tomorrow is November 23," Paige said abruptly, glancing down at the date.

Pen and Phoebe paused for a moment, confusion on their faces, racking their brains to come up with an idea of what that date meant. Pen was the first to break the silence, tilting her head to one side and regarding her mother as she asked, "What's so special about the twenty-third?"

"That's when we first met Bianca," Paige said, sending her sister a meaningful glance.

Chris cleared his throat, announcing his presence. He knew perfectly well where Paige and Phoebe would be going with this thought, and he didn't want them to dwell on the fact that Bianca had almost killed him in the past. They didn't know the full story, and it wasn't as though she was actually going to let him die.

Not, of course, that that mattered to his aunts.

Would they ever trust her?

And even if they couldn't trust her, couldn't they trust him? Couldn't they trust that he knew the person he was dating, the person he wanted to marry?

He loved her.

Wasn't that enough?

Paige and Phoebe glanced over at Chris quickly, and instantly dropped the subject. They might not trust Bianca, but this was not the time to get into that discussion. Instead, Paige turned back to her potion, and Phoebe hurried over to embrace Prue.

Chris walked over to the potion and stared at the murky green liquid. It was smoking slightly, sending up wisps of dark grey steam. Chris pushed the smoke away with one hand and glanced at Paige. "Is it supposed to do that?" he asked curiously.

Paige nodded absently. "I think so," she replied, glancing down at the potion recipe in front of her. "I doesn't say, and I've never made this one before…" She tossed in the last ingredient, which Chris thought idly looked somewhat like a cross between ginger root and garlic, and smelled just as foul.

The potion frothed for a moment, then turned dark red.

"Done," Paige said happily.

"Where's Mel?" Prue asked, looking around the kitchen as she realized that one of her cousins was absent.

Paige sighed. "She's still upstairs," she explained. "She's been pretty quiet. I think she's actually taking this all… well, as well as can be expected." She looked thoughtfully at the potion for a moment, then said, "I'm going to go up and check on her anyway. Chris, can you bottle this for me?"

Chris nodded and took his Aunt's place as Paige orbed out of the kitchen. Wyatt said something about wanting to look in the Book, and Pen and Prue decided to leave with him. Which left Phoebe and Chris alone in the kitchen.

"I loved Cole."

Phoebe had said it so quietly, that for a moment, Chris wondered if he had imagined the words. But when he looked up from the potion, Phoebe was staring at him, her expression serious. Chris sighed and looked away for a moment, slowly scooping portions of the potion and placing them in the empty bottles on the counter.

"And he loved me," Phoebe continued. "And I thought that all that was enough to ignore the fact that he was half-demon."

"Bianca isn't Cole," Chris said stubbornly.

Phoebe shrugged slightly. "No, she isn't. But she is an assassin witch. She shimmers, and she throws energy balls, and she may be reformed now, but Cole was reformed once also."

"Yes," Chris said, biting the words as he struggled to maintain his composure, "but she isn't going to become the Source of All Evil and take over the Underworld."

Phoebe sighed. "And I never once dreamed that Cole would do that to me, to us. But he did. Because even though he loved me and I loved him, it wasn't enough."

"You just don't like Bianca," Chris ground out angrily.

"I just don't want to see you get hurt," Phoebe countered. She licked her dry lips, then said, "She already betrayed you once, Chris. She took you back to Wyatt."

Before Chris could say anything, Piper and Leo orbed into the room, each looking particularly grim. Phoebe and Chris turned away from their escalating argument and waited for the news.

"The Ceremony is going to take place tomorrow night," Piper said softly, without preamble. "At least, that's what Barbus said."

"Can we trust him?" Phoebe asked, unsure. The Demon of Fear had tried to kill them on many occasions, and continually managed to come back from the dead no matter how many times they vanquished him. She was loathe to form their entire plan around his word.

"I don't know," Leo said honestly. "I think it all depends on whether or not he believed us about what the Source was trying to do."

Piper nodded in agreement. "If he believed us, he would have told us the truth. If not, he would have lied. I would like to think he believed us, but…"

"The thing is," Leo cut in, "we don't have anything else to go on. We pretty much have to assume that he is telling the truth, and plan accordingly."

"So… tomorrow night?"

"Yes. Tomorrow night."

* * *

"Barbus told them," the Seer said quietly. She stared at the magical waters in her pool, watching as the image of Piper and Leo faded away to reveal a picture of the Demon of Fear, still standing in the same cave. "He did just as you asked."

"Yes," the Source said, a pleased smirk appearing briefly on his face. "They will walk right into the trap, having no idea what they are doing." The smile faltered for a moment, and his expression became serious. "Come, we have much to do before tomorrow night."

* * *

Next Chapter: The Calm Before the Storm

Due: Fri 7/14


	49. The Calm Before the Storm

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's Note: As indicated by the title, not much action happens in this chapter. It is, however, the last chapter before the final battle begins, so the next few chapters after this will have a lot of action to make up for it. And, in response to a question in one of the reviews, I'm 19 years old and just finished my first year of college.

* * *

Chapter Forty-Eight: The Calm Before the Storm

The entire Halliwell family gathered around the kitchen table. It was the first time they had all been in the same room in several days, and Piper suddenly realized how strange that was. They used to have family dinners at least two or three times a week, but things were different now.

And they weren't actually all there, Piper reminded herself. Kyle was gone now, and so was Jason. Although the latter had rarely shown up at magical events, he was still quite often present in family affairs, and it seemed strange that she hadn't seen him in so long.

But he wasn't really family, not anymore…

Leo ran a hand through his hair and stared at the people around him. His family. So much had changed, and in such a short period of time.

Would they ever be able to go back?

"So, I guess we need a plan," Paige said at last, breaking the contemplative silence that had fallen over the group.

"Besides orb in and fight?" Wyatt asked curiously. "How much more of a plan do we need?"

"This isn't an easy fight, Wy," Piper said softly. "This is the Source and the Seer and whatever demons are helping them. We can't just attack, or it will be suicide for us." She looked down at the table for a moment, thinking. She was scared, they all were, but this was a different kind of fear. This was the kind of fear that came with the uneasy feeling that, even if they won, they were still going to lose so much.

She didn't know where the idea came from, but once she thought it, it latched onto her mind and filled her with a sense of foreboding.

"So what's the plan?" Phoebe asked wearily. She was tired. They were all tired. They all wanted this to end, wanted it to be over. It had been so long since Chris had first orbed out of his room in a fit of rage, so long since he had drunk the memory potion, so long since they had started down this path.

She was _so_ tired.

Leo glanced over at her and said, "I know only a very little about these kinds of ceremonies. I spoke to a few of the Elders, trying to gather any details that they had. Unfortunately, their knowledge is limited also. They suggested that we check the library in Magic School, but that would take far too long. We don't have that much time."

"So are we going in blind?" Piper questioned. "I don't know if I like that."

"Not quite blind," Leo replied. "There are a few things that we know." He took a deep breath, then said, "The Source will have a corporeal form."

"What does that mean?" Pen asked, not understanding.

"It means that the Source will be in our world as an actual demon, and not as a ghost or an astral projection. It means that he will have full access to his powers," Leo explained.

"How is that possible?" Paige questioned. "I thought he was trapped in hell?" She shivered at the thought of the Source coming back. They had all almost died vanquishing him the last time. Would they all make it out alive this time?

"He is," Leo said heavily. "But we believe that part of the reason that the ceremony must be performed at a certain time is because the Source has found a way to break through the metaphysical limitations of hell at that specific moment." His face grew grave, and he said somberly, "But they won't have actually come back to life, which means they can't be vanquished."

"Wh-what?"

Leo turned shadowed eyes to Phoebe. "We can't vanquish them. The only thing we can hope to do is distract them until the time for the ceremony has passed. Once it has, they will be sent back to hell." He frowned slightly, then said, "Actually, it isn't quite correct to say they won't be ghosts. They will have access to all their powers, yes, but they will be in spirit form."

"So what affect would our powers have on them?" Pen questioned softly. She frowned, how do you fight a ghost you cannot kill?

Leo sighed. "It's complicated. They can't touch anything in our world, but their powers can. Therefore, I think it is safe to assume that we cannot physically touch them, but our powers can. Although, our powers still would not be enough to vanquish them, or even truly hurt them. We can only slow them down."

"So they can kill us, but we can't kill them?"

"Yes," Leo said simply. There was not much more he could say, the question only needed a one word answer. But still, everyone was looking at him as though they hoped he would have something else to say.

"Can we use a spell to vanquish a ghost? There's one of those in the Book," Chris suggested.

"The Source and Seer are not technically ghosts… it is hard to figure out what exactly they are…" Leo sighed again. "Anyway, they are much too powerful for that spell."

"So basically we want to distract the Source long enough so that the proper time for him to release the Hollow passes, or, if he is able to release it, we want to distract him long enough for the Phoenixes to return it to its box?" Paige summed up their plan so far.

Leo gave an affirmative nod.

"How long do we have to delay the Source?" Piper asked suddenly, glancing over at Leo. "How much of a window do they have for the ceremony?"

"An hour," Leo replied.

"That's a long time," Phoebe observed worriedly.

"I know," Leo agreed.

"I thought it would the entire night," Chris commented, surprised. "I mean, the stars will be aligned for the whole night, won't they?"

"No," Leo explained. "This ceremony requires a lot more precision than other, less ambitious, ones. Therefore the stars have to be almost exactly aligned, there is little room for error. And since Earth is turning throughout the night, the locations of the stars are moving in relation to Earth as well. There is only one hour in which they are appropriately aligned with each other and with Earth, and it is in that hour that the Hollow must be released."

"Let me guess. Midnight is somehow part of that time?" Piper ventured.

"You would think so, wouldn't you?" Leo said thoughtfully. "Actually, it is 8:39 to 9:39, about two hours after the sun starts to set."

"Weird," Chris commented and Wyatt nodded in agreement.

Leo gave a soft chuckle, then continued, "Unfortunately, our knowledge ends there. We don't know anything about the ceremony itself."

"I don't like going in blind," Piper said with a slight shake of her head. "I don't like it at all." She bit her lip and looked at the others in the room, seeing her worry reflected in their eyes. "We have no idea what we are getting ourselves into. This is worse than anything we've ever faced."

"Do we have a choice?" Wyatt asked.

It was a rhetorical question, and no one bothered to answer it.

After a moment, Piper broke the tense silence and said, "So we should go in with potions and spells ready to use against the demons."

"I can make some more potions," Paige suggested. "And Phoebe can write some spells."

Phoebe nodded in agreement, then a thought came to mind, and she glanced over at her brother-in-law. "Did you ever figure out who has the Power of Three?"

Leo looked at her, startled by the question, then nodded. After thinking over Nathaniel's words for a long time, he had come to a conclusion that he was fairly certain was right. However, in the process of thinking about it, he had come to a few other conclusions which had unnerved him. They would have to deal with those problems, but since at the moment they had bigger fish to fry… well, they would cross that bridge when they got to it.

He nodded. "I do," he said. He glanced from Piper to Phoebe, and then over to Paige. Finally, he switched his gaze back to his wife, and said, "It is still with you three."

Prue breathed out a sigh of relief.

"How do you know that?" Phoebe asked curiously. Her daughter's relief did not go unnoticed by her, and she felt a strange twinge at the thought that her daughter did not want the power.

Leo shook his head and said, "I'll tell you guys later. It isn't important right now." Again, he caught Piper's eye, and she was left with the distinct feeling that there was more that he needed to tell her. She shifted in her seat, suddenly nervous.

"Alright," Paige said briskly, all business again, "So since we have the Power of Three, we should be the ones to face the Source."

"Actually, no…" Chris said softly. All eyes swung to him, and he shot an apologetic look at his brother. "Well… I mean… shouldn't the Ultimate Power be the one to face the Source?"

Wyatt nodded. "He's right. It should be me."

"But the Power of Three…"

"Is nothing compared to what Wyatt can do," Chris said, a far away look in his eyes.

Wyatt frowned. "Well, I wouldn't go quite that far," he countered.

"I would," Chris said simply, and the others knew he was thinking about a different timeline and a different Wyatt. There was a pause, then Chris continued, "Since that warlock… what was his name? Latere?... made you more prone to… um…" again, he gave Wyatt a look, but this time his lips twitched into a wry smirk, "going insane, it shouldn't be to difficult for you to..."

"To what?" Wyatt asked, appalled at Chris' suggestion. "Lose it completely? Torture demons? Try to take on the most powerful clan of demons the world has ever seen by myself?" He shook his head emphatically.

Chris gave his brother a searching look, then shrugged and said, "Suit yourself. But you know you've got more power than any of us."

"Chris! You can't seriously be asking him to do this?" Piper admonished her younger son.

"Actually," Leo spoke up, "I agree with Chris." Piper gave him a glare, but he ignored it and looked over at Wyatt. "You're not going to turn evil, Wy, and we'll all be there to make sure you come back. I promise nothing is going to happen to you."

"How can you want this?" Piper demanded harshly.

"I don't," Leo retorted. "I don't want to send Wyatt to face the Source. Hell, I don't even want either of our sons to come with us on this. But I'm not sure we have any other choice. Chris is right, Wyatt is stronger than the three of you, and we're going to need that."

"Why?" Paige asked. "We defeated the Source once before."

"Yeah," Piper nodded, agreeing with Paige. "We managed it fine on our own."

"No, we didn't," Phoebe murmured. "We lost Prue, Cole, my son, and a whole bunch of innocents along the way. And it took us several years and every last ounce of magical power that we had."

Seeing the truth in her sister's words, Piper relented and gave a reluctant nod. "Fine," she snapped. Her eyes softened as she looked over at Wyatt, "But we'll all be there for you if something happens. You know that, right?"

Wyatt nodded. "Of course, Mom," he replied.

"Okay, so Wyatt is facing the Source, and the rest of us are attacking demons?" Chris asked.

"I think Phoebe and Prue should take on the Seer," Paige suggested, looking over at her sister and niece. "They have the same powers that the Seer does, so they have the most chance of being able to stall her."

"That's a good idea," Piper replied in approval. She turned her attention to Prue and asked, slightly concerned, "Are you okay with that?"

"Sure," Prue replied, although her tone was less than convincing. "I've got my elemental powers if anything comes up."

"You know," Paige said thoughtfully, "we should try to get the Hollow out of there as soon as possible."

"There's going to be some sort of spell on it so that we can't just orb it out," Piper pointed out. "The Source isn't going to leave it unprotected."

"Maybe we could say our own spell to send it away?" Phoebe suggested. "A Power of Three spell might work. We'd have to get close to the box, and Wyatt would still have to have the Source distracted so he couldn't stop us, but it might work."

"The problem with that is, with a spell, you can only send it somewhere you've already been," Leo pointed out. "And at this point, anywhere we sent it, the Source would just be able to get a demon to go bring it back."

"What about Up There?"

"Yeah, because that worked so well last time," Wyatt objected sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"Besides, there are enchantments on Up There that would prevent the spell from working, or else every demon would send vanquishing potions or dark-lighter poison to us. The same is true for Magic School," Leo explained.

"What if we sent it back to the Manor?" Paige suggested. "Mel and Pen could wait here, and then they could orb it some place safe."

"What?" Mel demanded, speaking for the first time since the conversation had started. "You want us to wait here?"

Paige nodded. "You're only thirteen, Mel. I only wanted you to come when I thought you still had the Power of Three. Now that you don't… it's just too dangerous. And after what happened to your father…" She let the sentence hang, but Mel glared back at her, unable to believe her mother wanted to leave her behind.

"I think it's a good idea," Pen said, reaching out and touching Mel on the arm to get her attention.

"Of course you do!" Mel hissed under her breath so only Pen could hear her. "You're just afraid of going down there."

Pen stiffened at the comment and countered, "Someone has to be here to receive the Hollow, and we are the ones with the least magical experience."

"Actually, Chris is the one with the least experience," Mel snapped bitingly, and Chris flinched at the words.

"Not anymore," Wyatt muttered in a barely audible voice.

"Mel!" Pen hissed, clearly upset by the effect her sister's words had had on Chris.

Mel slanted a look at her sister, then gave Chris a hard stare. At last she shrugged and said, "Fine. Whatever. We'll wait." And she got up and stalked from the room.

Paige sighed and resisted the urge to bury her head in her hands. She stared in the direction that Mel had gone and made a mental note to talk to her daughter after all of this was over. An uneasy silence fell over the group once again as everyone tried to ignore Mel's angry departure.

"So, Wyatt is going to take on the Source, Phoebe and Prue will focus on distracting the Seer, then we'll try a Power of Three spell to get the Hollow out of the Citadel. If that doesn't work, we'll simply try to prevent them from releasing the Hollow. If _that_ doesn't work, the Phoenixes will return the Hollow to the box. And the rest of us will be fighting demons," Chris summed up.

"I guess we had better get started on those spells and potions then," Paige said, standing up.

Piper looked over at the clock on the kitchen stove. "No," she objected. "It's ten-thirty. We're going to need a good night's sleep. We can make the spells and the potions tomorrow, but for now, I think we should try to go to bed."

Seeing the wisdom in that plan, the others nodded and left the kitchen.

As Wyatt walked from the room, Chris caught up with him and grabbed his brother by the shoulder. "You're going to have to let go," he whispered. "For this to work, you're going to have to let go."

Wyatt gave his brother a look, then swallowed and asked, "What if I can't come back?" The idea of being forever trapped in that rage and passion that had flown through his veins when he was fighting with Sarina terrified him. If he lost control…

Chris didn't say anything. He knew he should tell Wyatt that he would always be able to come back. He knew he should say that he would be there to help Wyatt find his way back. He knew he should say that the family wouldn't let him fall.

But he couldn't, because once, in a different time and place, none of those things had actually been true.

This Wyatt would not turn, Chris reminded himself. This Wyatt would always be good.

But the world wasn't divided into pure good and pure bad. Would he lose his brother into gray?

He had lead Wyatt back once, but his brother had not gone that far deep into the rage. This was different, this was asking Wyatt to let go of everything completely, and to do it for an entire hour. Could he really keep his brother from disappearing down the wrong path?

Knowing this was not a good time to lie, Chris did the only thing he could, and spoke the truth.

"I don't know."

* * *

Bianca parried the blow Matt sent at her and attacked with a sharp jab to his chest. He side stepped it, and caught her wrist, turning it in an attempt to force her arm behind her. She yanked her entire body down towards the floor, throwing Matt of balance and causing him to release her. Then she swung out one leg, catching Matt in the back of the knee and causing him to crumble to the ground. But Matt didn't give up, and rolled over so that he was on his knees. Launching both hands out, he caught Bianca in the chest and the stomach, and she sprawled backwards on the floor, the wind knocked out of her.

Matt pulled himself slowly to his feet as Bianca stood up. He stretched his sore muscles and said, "Been a long time since we've sparred."

"Yeah," Bianca agreed. She walked out of the empty room they had been using as a training room, and into Matt's living room. She collapsed onto one of the sofas and ran a hand through her hair.

"You're nervous." It wasn't a question.

But Bianca answered anyway. "Terrified is more like it."

Brilliant white lights filled the room, and Chris suddenly appeared, coalescing into a solid form. He stared around in surprise for a moment, then turned to Matt and said, "So this is where you live?"

"Yes," Matt said, struggling to keep his voice level. He reigned in his complete and utter loathing for every Halliwell because of Bianca, but that didn't mean he enjoyed their surprise visits.

Bianca, sensing the tension, stood up quickly and said to Chris, "We should go back to my apartment. Why don't you go, and I'll meet you there in a minute?"

Chris nodded, sensing that if he had stayed, Matt probably would have started a fight. He orbed away, wishing vaguely that he had a better relationship with Matt, since he was one of Bianca's best friends.

"I don't like him," Matt said the instant Chris was gone. "He's not good enough for you."

Bianca laughed and replied, "You would say that about anyone I dated."

"Well, you don't have an older brother to look out for you, so I figured I should do it instead," Matt said innocently, but then a smirk found its way onto his face, and he couldn't help but laugh softly at the annoyed expression on Bianca's face.

The annoyance faded from her features, and Bianca moved towards him and gave him a brief hug. "Be safe," she said softly. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Matt nodded, and watched as she disappeared in a shimmer of air.

Reappearing in her apartment, she hurried over to Chris. "Is everything alright?" she asked, concerned, a million horrible scenarios running through her mind.

"Yeah, it's fine," Chris said. He wrapped his arm around Bianca as she sat down next to him and explained, "My Mom thought it would be a good idea if we all got some sleep before tomorrow. We'll need all our energy."

Bianca nodded in agreement. "She's right about that."

Chris ran a hand through his hair, then suddenly turned and kissed Bianca passionately. Startled, it took Bianca a moment to respond to the kiss, and a moment later for her brain to kick in and question Chris' sudden action. She pulled back and raised an eyebrow.

"Chris…?"

Chris took a deep breath, then said in a rushed voice, "I don't have a ring. I didn't have the chance to buy one. But I love you, and I want to marry you. Marry me."

Bianca stood up quickly, and stepped away. "You're just saying that because the world might end tomorrow."

Chris got up also, albeit slower. "What if I am?" he asked. "It doesn't change the fact that I love you and I _do_ want to marry you, regardless of whether or not the world ends. But if it is going to end tomorrow, then I want us to be engaged now, because I want to be able to spend at least one day knowing that you're going to be my wife. I want to be able to say I'm your fiancée, I want to be able to say that I'll love you forever, even if we no longer exist."

Tears streamed down Bianca's face, and Chris thought vaguely it was the first time that he had seen her cry.

He pushed on. "I had this whole great speech worked out. I spent a long time thinking about the perfect way to propose. It involved a thousand roses and the top of the Golden Gate Bridge. And, obviously, a ring. But I don't have a thousand roses, I don't have a ring, and we aren't on a tower of the Bridge. All I have is the knowledge that I want to marry you, and I'm hoping you feel the same way." He looked at Bianca and took a slow breath, then said again, "Marry me."

Bianca nodded, unable to speak. A moment passed, and then she gasped out a hoarse and choked, "Y-yes."

* * *

Jason looked up from his work at the knock on the door, and frowned, wondering who would be calling this late at night. He stood up and crossed the floor quickly, opening the door and staring in surprise at the woman standing there.

"Phoebe."

"Can I come in?" she asked.

"Of course," Jason replied, stepping aside quickly. So much had happened in the past few weeks, so much had changed. He inwardly winced at how awkward the situation was right now. If someone had told him even two months ago that he and Phoebe would soon not even be able to be in the same room without this tense and uncomfortable silence, he would never have believed them.

But things change.

"The world might end tomorrow," Phoebe said quickly. She shivered and ran a hand through her short hair, knowing that the coldness she felt was not actually physical.

She was scared.

"Oh," Jason said, realizing after the word had left his mouth how incredibly stupid it was. But what was he supposed to say to that?

"I don't want to cease to exist with you hating me," Phoebe continued. "Because I love you." She forced the words out of her mouth, but they were so hard to say, so incredibly painful.

Because they were so incredibly true.

Jason hesitated, torn for a moment between the fact that this woman used to be his wife, and the fact that they were currently rather estranged. But his better half won out, and he reached over and pulled her into a hug. "I love you, too," he replied.

"I guess sometimes it isn't really enough," Phoebe murmured into his chest.

Jason pulled back and said, "If you stop the Source, if the world doesn't end, I think we need to sit down and talk about how we are going to handle this. For Prue's sake."

"I'd like us to still be friends," Phoebe said hopefully.

Jason considered this, then replied, "I don't think we can, not right now. Too much has happened, too many mistakes have been made… by both of us." He paused and took a breath. Too many open wounds for them to ever go back… "We need to be completely separate for right now. I mean, we'll still have to come together for things that involve Prue, but otherwise…"

Phoebe sighed and blinked back the tears that had filled her eyes. "It happened so quickly. The ending… it was so… so fast."

"No, it wasn't," Jason countered. "Our marriage had been falling apart for a while now, Phoebe. We were both just too in love to admit it."

And Phoebe nodded, know that that was true.

"But maybe someday we can be friends again," Jason murmured, hugging her one last time. "I'd like that."

"Me, too," Phoebe replied, leaning into his embrace. Then she reached up and kissed him on the cheek. "Good bye, Jason."

"Good bye, Phoebe," Jason whispered, walking her over to the door. She stepped out into the hallway, gave him one last look, and turned and walked away.

Jason shut the door.

* * *

"Leo?" Piper asked as she climbed into the bed next to him. "How _did_ you figure out who has the Power of Three?"

Leo looked at her for a moment, then sighed and sat up in bed. He knew she wouldn't put the conversation off, but he was still hoping they wouldn't have had to worry about it until later. "Given a choice, magic goes where it is most wanted," he said at last, hoping she would accept that vague answer.

She didn't. "And Prue, Pen, and Mel don't want it?"

"No," Leo said bluntly. "They don't."

"Leo, what aren't you telling me?" Piper asked suspiciously, an unknown fear twisting in her stomach.

"I've been watching everyone these past couple of days," Leo said slowly, "and I think, when this is all over, we're going to need to talk about the future."

"Why?" Piper asked.

"Because Magic doesn't like going to people who won't take it," Leo murmured under his breath.

Piper heard his comment, and tilted her head to one side, confused. "What?"

Leo gave her a soft smile and said, "Let's worry about it when all of this is over. Please?" He was too tired, too scared about the immediate future, to worry about something beyond it.

And Piper, in an uncharacteristic display of acceptance, acquiesced to the request and fell silent.

The two lay in bed, each thinking about tomorrow, and what it would bring.

* * *

Approximately twenty-hours later found the entire Halliwell family gathered in the sunroom. Several Phoenixes stood there as well. They were all laden with weapons, potions, and spells. Wyatt carried Excalibur in one hand. Paige held the Power of Three spell to remove the Hollow. Each Phoenix had an identical athame with the shape of a Phoenix carved into the handle. And everyone wore identical grim expressions on their faces.

"Ready?" Piper asked.

All eyes turned to the Halliwell matriarch.

No, they weren't ready. They were never going to be ready, not for this.

But it was a rhetorical question anyway. It was now or never.

Ready or not, here we come…

They orbed and shimmered from the room, leaving Pen and Mel behind to wait for the Hollow. Once it appeared, they were to take it to Magic School, which they had decided was the safest location.

Pen stared at the suddenly empty room, and said, "I'm going up to the attic. That's where the box will end up."

Mel nodded. "I'm going to get some water, I'll be there in a moment." She watched as Pen left the room and headed up the stairs. Once she was sure that her sister had reached the attic, she pulled a thin athame out from the inside pocket of the jean jacket she was wearing. She took the jacket off, dropped it on wicker loveseat, and clutched the athame in one hand.

Then she orbed from the room.

* * *

Next Chapter: The Citadel

Due: Fri 7/21


	50. The Citadel

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: This chapter, and the two following, are going to be shorter than usual. Also, I don't know how it works in the real Charmed, but in my story, in order for a witch to turn evil, he or she has to _willingly_ kill an innocent. That is, they have to know the person they are killing is not truly evil, and yet do it anyway. This will be important at the very end of this chapter and in the next two, so I thought I should say it now.

Re: quills: Me, an English major? Haha... Actually, I'm about as far away from that as you can get; I'm a biochemistry major. But I'm flattered you think I could be an English major.

* * *

Chapter Forty-Nine: The Citadel

They found themselves in a large cave. The walls were lit with flickering torches that sent shadows cascading across the stone floor. The air was heavy and hot. Several demons lined up along the walls, flanking the entrances to the cave. A few tables were scattered around the room, piled with books and potion bottles. Set in the very middle of the room, rising high above the rock floor, was a platform, a Citadel. In the center of the Citadel was a box, and the Charmed Ones knew that, within that box, was the Hollow.

And on top of the Citadel, standing in front of the box that contained the Hollow, was the Source.

They stared at each other for a moment, the Source and the Halliwells. It could not have been more than a split second, but it seemed like an eternity. As they stared, memories of past battles, of past grievances and past losses, flooded their minds, and the air in the room began to crackle with the fury that radiated from each group.

Then the Source raised his hands, and the Halliwells felt something shift in the air. Leo frowned slightly and cast a sideways glance at Piper.

"He's put up an anti-orbing spell," he whispered. "We're trapped in here."

Piper nodded and shot a quick glance at the entrances to the cave. They were to well guarded, the only way through them would be to vanquish all the demons in the room, and the only way to do that would be to vanquish the Source first.

And then a mocking voice rang out in the silence, "So glad you could make it."

Barbus stepped out of the shadows, a smirk fixed firmly on his features, and he laughed. The laugh was chilling, as though he knew something the others didn't.

Which, Piper reflected, was probably the case.

But Phoebe wasn't looking at Barbus. Her eyes were trained on the figure next to the Demon of Fear.

The Seer.

She was taller than Phoebe remembered, and her dark skin glistened in the dim light of the room. Her brown eyes were filled with triumph, as though she knew that she had already won.

"You," Phoebe hissed. The woman who had masterminded the Source's possession of Cole, this woman who had turned her baby evil, this woman who had tried to kill them all…

"Me," the Seer replied calmly.

The Seer turned and locked eyes with the Source, and he gave a brief nod, which she returned with an icy smile.

And then the fighting began.

Phoebe found herself cut off from the Seer and surrounded by several demons. She swallowed back her anger, knowing she could deal with the Seer later, and turned her attention to the matter at hand. A demon threw an energy ball at her, but she levitated over it, and it vanquished the demon behind her. She dodged another attack, an energy ball this time, then used her empathy to tap into her attackers powers and vanquished two demons with their own fireballs. The third she vanquished with a quick succession of punches and kicks, followed by a stab with an athame that she had brought with her.

As the third demon crumbled to ash, she turned and caught sight of a dark-lighter sneaking up behind Chris. Screaming out his name in warning, she was rewarded by the sight of him spinning around in time to telekinetically throw the dark-lighter across the cave before he had a chance to fire the crossbow.

Piper turned at the sound of her sister crying out her son's name, and paused long enough to make sure that he was alright. But the moment that she had taken to look at Chris distracted her from the fight, and the next thing she knew she felt a searing pain shoot through her shoulder down to her fingertips, and felt the warm trickle of blood as it seeped out onto her shirt.

Wincing in pain, the eldest Charmed One tried to ignore the knife wound in her shoulder, but every time she lifted her hands to freeze or blow up a demon, another wave of pain would run through her body, and the loss of blood was making her dizzy.

She looked around for Leo or Wyatt.

Leo was standing near the base of the citadel, electricity flying from his fingertips as he took on the advancing demons. He had been hit a few times already by energy balls, and stabbed once with an athame, but the wounds did not slow him down at all. In fact, he barely felt the pain for the brief moment that it was there before his body self-healed.

Piper pushed her way through the fighting fray towards her husband. His back was to her, but she called out, "Leo," and saw the look of worry appear on his face as he turned and caught sight of her injured shoulder. Moving towards her, he pulled her away from the crowd and secured them both behind an overturned table, then reached out to heal her. The warm golden glow spread out from his fingers, and Piper sighed in relief.

Bianca threw an athame with perfect precision, watching as the demon across the room exploded into flames. She conjured an energy ball in one hand and summoned her athame into the other, and proceeded to attack two more demons. She fought her way across the room, separating from her mother and the other Phoenixes. The Phoenixes were spreading out, conjuring athames and working their way through the cave, wreaking havoc on the demons.

Matt glanced over his shoulder at Bianca, eyeing her as she vanquished another demon. Mentally rebuking himself for worrying about her when she could clearly take care of herself, he turned his attention towards Lynn, and called out a warning to her as a demon blindsided her from the back. She instinctively dropped to the ground, ducking below the demon's fist and kicking out with one foot. She caught him hard in the knee and he fell, and a swift energy ball to the chest finished him off.

Paige orbed a fireball back at the demon who sent it to her, and glanced across the cave to see how her sisters were faring. Piper had reemerged into the battle, now fully healed, and was fighting side by side with Leo. Phoebe was levitating over demons and using her empathy to redirect energy balls back at the demons who sent them towards her. Paige smiled inwardly as she dodged another attack, pleased that her sisters were doing well.

Then she caught sight of a flash of dark hair and dark eyes, and her breath caught in her throat.

What was Mel doing here?

The youngest Charmed One paused long enough to watch her daughter evade an attack, paused long enough to imagine all the punishments she was going to inflict on her daughter for being careless and reckless enough to come here, paused long enough for the dark-lighter behind her to release the firing mechanism on his crossbow without her noticing.

Until the arrow buried itself in her back and she fell to the floor with a sickening thud.

Throughout the entire battle, Wyatt had managed to make his way to the Citadel and climb the twisting stairs to the top. He stood before the Source, Excalibur clutched tightly in one hand, eyeing the demon who had caused his family so much pain. Anger, fury, hatred, and wrath welled up inside of him, flooding through his veins and feeding his power. Energy crackled along the length of his blade, flashing in the dim light. He thought idly that the passion he was feeling was clearly a side effect of what that warlock had done to him so long ago. This vehemence was what had almost gotten him killed by Sarina, what had caused him to try to torture Latere into revealing Chris' location, and what had, at one point, in another timeline, made it easier for Gideon to turn him.

And this time he did not fight it.

He let the power flow from him into the air, down along the length of his blade. He let his rage and his fury build within him until it reaching a raging crescendo. He let his inhibitions slip away until all that was left was burning fire in his chest.

And then he attacked.

He didn't know why or how the Source had a sword. He didn't know why the Source was able to hold a sword when Leo had said that the Source couldn't touch anything from this world. He barely even registered the fact that it was a strong sword, almost Excalibur's equal. He turned all his energy into defeating this demon, into making sure he was trapped in hell for the rest of eternity.

The blades clashed, the air was filled with the hum of steel grating against steel, and sparks cascaded from the Citadel towards the ground below.

At some point during the fight, the Seer had slipped away to a secluded corner in the back of the cave, where she stood, her pool in front of her, watching everything that had happened. She glanced over at the Source and the Twice Blessed Child and thought idly that if the Source was actually alive Wyatt may have managed to vanquish him by now. He certainly had the power to do it, but the Source had the undeniable help that, since he was already vanquished, he couldn't actually be vanquished again. No blow that Excalibur struck who do any lasting harm, where as the Twice Blessed _was_ alive, and could still bleed.

Prue fought her way through the crowd towards the Seer. Fire and wind flew from her palms as she relied on her elementals to protect her. Chancing a glance over her shoulder, she saw her mother trying to fight her way towards her, intent on taking on the Seer as well.

The Seer meanwhile, looked down at the black water of her pool, and waited. A cruel smile twisted her thin lips as she sensed the eldest of the next generation of Charmed Ones approaching.

Then she looked up, into the angry brown eyes of the eighteen-year-old Halliwell.

Prue extended both hands, and wind shot out of her palms, but the Seer simply ducked, and the wind whipped over her head and into the hard stone wall behind her.

Standing, the Seer gave Prue a hard smirk and said, "Do you really think you can defeat me, little girl? I've been around since centuries before you were born." Raising one hand, the she used her powers to form a ball of black water, hovering under her palm just a few inches above the smooth surface of the pool.

And then she flicked her wrist, and the black water shot forward, slamming into Prue's chest and sinking into her skins. It rushed through her veins, her blood turning icy cold as the water took over her. She stumbled and fell to her knees, gasping for breath.

Phoebe saw her daughter crash to her knees and cried out in fury. Throwing one of the potions bottles, she watched as it flew in a wide arc through the air, then struck the pool at the its base. The stone basin exploded, sending shards of stone and droplets of black water across the floor, and a thick haze of gray smoke rose, spiraling towards the top of the cave.

When the smoke cleared, the pool was gone, but the Seer still stood there, still wore a confident smirk. "You're too late," the Seer said softly, eyeing Phoebe.

"I destroyed your pool," Phoebe replied. "It's the base of your power." She gestured to the floor where the small puddles of black water were seeping through the rocks and disappearing into the ground. "Even your water is gone."

"Not all of it," the Seer replied, looking down at Prue, who was still crouched on the floor, her eyes tightly closed, still struggling for breath.

Then Prue opened her eyes and looked up at her mother, and Phoebe stifled a scream.

Prue's eyes were completely black.

The Seer laughed and said, "There is still some water left in your daughter's body, Phoebe Halliwell, and it can control what she feels. And _I_ can control the water." Then she looked past the two witches and up at the Source still fighting Wyatt on the Citadel.

The Source turned away from the fight long enough to catch her gaze, and she saw the fire burst into the blackness of his eyes. He gave a sharp nod, showing he understood, and turned back to his fight with the Twice Blessed Child.

It was time. The Seer gave a nod and said softly, "And so the end begins."

* * *

Next Chapter: The Ceremony 

Due: Tue 7/25


	51. The Ceremony

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: The spell at the end of the chapter is in Latin. My Latin is pretty rusty as I haven't used it in a really long time, so if actually you try to translate it (but please don't), it's probably grammatically incorrect. Basically, it talks about fate and destiny and nothingness.

* * *

Chapter Fifty: The Ceremony

Piper stumbled and fell, the world spinning around her as a demon slammed his fist into her back. On her knees, she twisted sideways to see Paige's still body, the arrow protruding from her back. Groaning, Piper barely managed to dodge the second attack the demon made. She fell to her stomach and rolled over, lifting both hands in front of her and blowing up the demon before he could attack again. Then she scrambled to her feet, and hurried towards her youngest sister.

As she reached Paige's body, she realized that someone else was already there, leaning over the still form, her hands outstretched in an attempt to heal the wound.

A moment later, and Piper realized it was Mel.

She didn't stop to wonder what her niece was doing here. She didn't stop to wonder why her nieces hands were glowing faintly gold when she had never before had the ability to heal. She didn't stop to wonder how she was going to protect the thirteen-year-old as the battle raged on all around them.

She dropped to her side next to Paige, and reached over to yank the arrow from her sister's back. Warm blood flowed onto the witch-lighter's shirt, staining it a dark red. But the glow from Mel's hands was somehow working, somehow making the wound fade away slightly.

At the very least, Paige was still alive, and that was something.

Piper looked around frantically for Leo, but he had already caught sight of Paige and was hurrying towards them, panic on his face. Piper let her gaze wander to the rest of the room. Chris was battling with several demons, fighting in a way she had never seen him fight before. The old Chris was coming out, and right now she was thankful, because it was clearly the only thing keeping her son alive.

The Phoenixes were moving with fluidity and efficiency that only an assassin could have. They were clearly the ones causing the most damage to the demons in the room. On the Citadel above them, Wyatt and the Source were still fighting, and Wyatt clearly had the greater skill. He had managed so far to keep the Source preoccupied and unable to release the Hollow. And at the far end of the room, Phoebe and Prue were standing in front of the Source.

But something was wrong.

Piper had no idea how she knew it, but she did.

Something was _very_ wrong.

Glancing back to make sure the Leo was healing Paige, the eldest Charmed One then got to her feet and fought her way towards Phoebe and Prue. She vanquished demons rapidly, viciously, not even aware of what she was doing. The only thing that made any sense to her at the moment was the overwhelming need to reach her middle sister and oldest niece.

And then Prue turned and looked at her.

It only took Piper a moment to register the black of Prue's eyes, the look of horror on Phoebe's face, the smirk the Seer was wearing, and she knew.

The Source and the Seer had known they were coming.

Barbus had played them.

It was a trap.

And Prue was about to pay the price.

* * *

She felt cold. 

And hot.

The air was heavy, it smelled acrid, like smoke.

She shivered.

She was cold.

An intense feeling of fear rushed through her veins and slammed into her heart, leaving her breathless.

Memories came flooding back.

She was standing in the attic with her family, having recited the spell to bring Piper back from the witch hunters' timeline. They had trusted the Khail, they had made an agreement with Sarina, and…

The green light that hit her, the pain, the memories that came pounding into her brain…

She could feel it now, the feeling she had felt then. While she was trapped in the dream world, seeing the things she didn't want to see, she had felt anger and rage. She had known why she was there, she had known why she was trapped in that nightmare.

The Khail had betrayed them.

Power corrupted. She had not wanted the Power of Three because power corrupted.

And she was afraid of what would happen to her if she took it.

But she was a Halliwell. She was the daughter of one of the original Charmed Ones, one of the most powerful forces of good the world had ever seen. She was a member of the next generation of Charmed Ones.

She was not easily corrupted.

And yet, somehow, she had been. Somehow, in that other timeline, despite everything she was and everything she came from, she had been corrupted.

If she could change that easily, how easy would it be for someone else to become twisted? Someone who did not have that lineage to keep them good and sane? Someone who was neither good nor evil, someone who was neutral?

Like an assassin.

They had trusted the Khail, and she had almost died.

And then some random witch had betrayed them to demons, and Kyle had died.

She didn't know why the witch had done it, but she didn't care. If he could do something like that, if a witch who was supposed to be good could take her uncle away from her…

Now they were trusting the Phoenixes…

Why?

What proof was there that they could be trusted? Bianca was no saint in this timeline or the other one, and if she was the most reformed of the clan…

What if the Phoenixes betrayed them like the Khail had? What if it was someone else who was hurt? Mel or Pen, Chris, Wyatt?

What if it was her mother or father?

Would she lose someone else, like she lost her uncle?

They had lead the Phoenixes right towards the Hollow. What if that's what they were after? What if that is why they agreed to come?

She felt cold.

She turned and looked around her, staring through the black haze that clouded her vision. She saw Paige on the ground, Leo healing her. She saw her mother and Piper staring at her. She saw Chris battling demons, and Wyatt fighting the Source.

And then she saw the Phoenixes.

They were fighting swiftly, competently.

Professionally.

Lynn closed in on another demon, stabbing him in the back with her athame and watching as he burst into flame. She was fighting her way towards the Citadel. She was ten feet away. Five feet. She was at the base of the stairs.

The blonde Phoenix looked up at the Source and Wyatt. And her eyes flickered to the box that contained the Hollow.

The black water.

She remembered what the Seer had done to her.

She could feel it in her veins.

It was flowing through her.

But it was not controlling her.

No, this was something she was doing entirely on her own.

She conjured a handful of fire and walked into the fray.

* * *

Chris shoved a demon away from him and stepped backwards, putting room between himself and his assailant. The demon snarled at him, but Chris drew an athame from his back pocket and threw it with deadly accuracy, and the demon went up in flames. 

Another demon attacked, and Chris finished him off with a potion. Another demon came, and a sharp twist of the neck, the audible snap of bones breaking, and the demon was ashes. Another demon came. And another. And another.

Chris fought with a single-mindedness he did not realize he possessed. It was an instinct far beyond anything he had ever experienced before. His body was moving of its own accord, and he wasn't controlling it.

But as he performed a certain defensive move or offensive attack, a random thought would flicker through his mind.

Bianca taught him that attack.

He practiced this move with Adam and Ria.

Prue had showed him how to dodge like that.

These were all things he had learned in a different timeline, and they were coming back to him know in such force and such intensity that he barely recognized himself.

He was so enthralled in the battle that he did not realize what was happening around him until he heard Bianca's voice cry out what horrified word.

"MOM!"

He turned, and time seemed to stand still.

It was as though the battle had frozen, turned into a silent tableau. Lynn was sprawled on the ground, having obviously just been attacked. Prue stood over her, a ball of fire in her hands. And although Chris could not fathom what was happening, he knew from the look in Prue's eyes that she meant to kill the Phoenix.

But standing directly behind Prue, an energy ball in her hand, was Bianca.

And Chris knew from the look in his fiancée's eyes, she was not going to let her mother die.

No matter what.

They stood frozen.

It was only a fraction of a second, but it stretched on for an eternity.

Even Wyatt turned to look.

And that was his mistake.

The Source threw his weight forward, stabbing his sword at Wyatt, and the blonde witch gasped in surprise and pain as the tip of the sword drew blood from his abdomen. He had jumped back in time to keep the blow from instantly killing him, but not in time to keep the wound from being serious.

He fell to his knees.

And the battle seemed to erupt as time sped forward. Noise filled the cave once again, rushing to a crescendo as the Source and the Seer realized that they were about to win.

And Chris acted on impulse, doing the only thing he could to save both his cousin and his soon-to-be mother-in-law.

He threw his hand out and telekinetically knocked Prue off her feet. She fell, and the fire disappeared from her hand.

Over the heads of the demons and witches in the room, he and his mother locked eyes, and a silent understanding passed between them. Piper made her way forward to stop her niece from killing any of the Phoenixes, and Chris turned and rushed up the stairs of the Citadel to face the Source.

Prue climbed back to her feet and conjured more fire. Piper and Phoebe ran towards her, and Lynn stood, conjuring her own energy ball. Bianca remained where she was, her eyes narrowed and dangerous.

The Seer smiled to herself as she watched the scene unfold. Barbus appeared at her side and she gave him a pleased look.

"I think it's going well," Barbus said casually.

The Seer nodded. "Whatever the others do now, the girl is still going to try to kill the Phoenix. It will result in the death of an innocent."

"Is the Phoenix really innocent?" Barbus asked distractedly.

The Seer pursed her lips. "Well, she is fighting on the side of Good, isn't she? It is her choices that make her good or evil, and she has chosen the other side." She was silent for a moment, then she turned to Barbus and said. "It is time to release the Hollow. The Twice Blessed is injured, he cannot fight, and the Source can take care of the other Halliwell child. Go, say the enchantments, open the box."

Barbus nodded, and made his way towards the Citadel.

* * *

Chris reached the top of the Citadel and attacked the Source with his telekinesis. The Source dodged it, and turned his sword on the young witch-lighter. He smiled cruelly and hissed, "Do you really think you can fight me without a weapon?" 

Chris glanced at Wyatt. His brother was almost unconscious, and he was pale. Too pale. He was losing too much blood. He didn't have time, he needed healing, and quickly. Which meant Chris needed to distract the Source long enough to get Wyatt down to Leo.

Chris changed a glance down below and saw his father already fighting through the crowd, making his way towards the Citadel, intent on reaching his dying son.

Chris suddenly threw himself to the ground without thinking of what he was doing, and barely registered the fact that he had just dodged a blow from the Source. Scrambling to his feet, he saw the Source swing the sword at him again, and he panicked.

Flinging out one hand, he prayed for a miracle.

And received it.

Excalibur flew to his grasp.

It hummed and danced in his hand. He was barely able to control the power that flowed from it into his body, but he fought to maintain a clear mind, and managed to lift the sword upwards and block the Source's attack.

He stood up, and continued to attack.

* * *

Down below, Leo neared the base of the Citadel, paused beside one of the many tables that were scattered around the room, and watched as Chris struggled to fight the Source. And in that moment, he did not see the shadow moving behind him until Barbus had hit him in the back of the head, and he had crumpled to the ground, stunned. 

The Demon of Fear continued up the stairs of the Citadel.

At the top, he stepped over to the box. The witch and the Source were fighting with such passion and fervor that they were almost unaware of his presence. He watched them for a moment, then turned to the box, and placed his hands on the smooth surface.

He could feel the Hollow rattling beneath the wooden exterior.

It was strange to think that this box, so small, so insignificant, housed something as powerful as the Hollow. The Hollow, which could not be stopped, only contained. The Hollow, which could absorb all magic, and bring the world into nothingness. It was here, beneath his hands.

He started chanting the spell.

"_Nos precor valde vox  
Dico veneficus quod totus suus  
Nos dico vos huic veneficus hora  
Irritum exorior fortuna quod fatum  
Adveho ex totus diversus partum  
Unus quod tantum irritum exorior"_

And he lifted the lid of the box.

* * *

Next Chapter: The Sacrifice 

Due: Sun 7/30


	52. The Sacrifice

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: Sorry this is a fairly short chapter. I tried to make it longer, but there just wasn't anything else to say. As for people's questions about the meaning of the title (The Sacrifice), I'm not saying anything. All the clues I want to give about what is going to happen have already been given.

Also, this chapter reads in a fairly fragmented way. I'm trying to show that everything is happening at once. Actually, the entire chapter takes place over the space of only two or three minutes.

* * *

Chapter Fifty-One: The Sacrifice

Phoebe grabbed Prue's arms and tried to pin them to her side, but her daughter was much stronger than Phoebe had realized. The young witch broke out of her mother's hold and turned around, shoving her mother backwards and to the ground before turning back to face Lynn and Bianca.

It was of some slight comfort to Phoebe that Prue had obviously made the choice to attack her physically instead of using her powers.

That meant that she hadn't turned evil yet. That meant that she hadn't broken the family bond yet.

Didn't it?

Paige, fully healed now, fought her way towards her sisters, Mel at her side. As they reached Prue, Prue threw the fire at Lynn, but the Phoenix simply side stepped it, and it vanquished the demon behind her instead.

"Don't let her do this!" Phoebe cried, pulling herself to her feet.

If Prue killed Lynn…

She couldn't lose her daughter.

She wouldn't be able to live with that loss.

Bianca took her eyes off of Prue and chanced a quick look around. The other Phoenixes were fighting the remaining demons, keeping them at bay, and leaving Bianca and the Halliwells to deal with Prue. But Leo was stunned on the ground, Wyatt was dying, Chris was fighting the Source and…

"No," she breathed, her eyes landing on the black cloud rising from the box on top of the Citadel.

The others followed her gaze, and fear filled the space between them.

The air crackled and glowed, lights flashing across the ceiling of the cave.

The Hollow was bringing fate together.

Everything was going to end.

Prue used their momentary distraction to launch another attack at Lynn, but Mel telekinetically pushed Prue away.

The Source's sword nicked Chris' skin just above the wrist, and Excalibur fumbled in his grasp. Bianca's heart began to race.

A demon attacked Paige, distracting her from the others, and the youngest Charmed One was forced away from Prue and back into the fight. A moment later another demon engaged Mel in combat, and she too was pushed away from her family.

The Source parried Chris' blow and jab his own sword quickly, drawing blood from Chris' shoulder. Then again, another attack, this time Chris' stomach bore the wound.

Bianca watched as Chris was forced backwards. Watched as the Source repeatedly took the upper hand. Watched and knew that the Source was winning.

And she realized in growing terror that Chris as going to die.

The Seer was smiling.

Bianca looked back at her mother. She and Lynn met eyes, and Lynn, knowing her daughter's need, whispered, "Go."

Bianca turned and fought her way through the demons towards the Citadel. A million plans rushed through her mind. She had to fight the Source. But she wasn't strong enough to win. She couldn't take on the Source, but maybe she could stall him long enough for Chris to get Wyatt to safety.

She stepped over Leo's prone form and took the steps two at a time.

Could she drain his powers? She knew he was a ghost, physically attacking him wouldn't work. He could probably dodge her energy balls, and an athame would do no good. But if she could drain his powers, immobilize him…

Would that even work?

It might, because even though it was a physical attack, it was a magical one as well. He might be immune to the physical pain of actually having her arm in his back, but she could still take his powers.

She hoped.

The Hollow was expanding, the ceiling of the cave was almost completely covered in it. Black filled the room, filled the air.

Paige paused in her fighting as a memory rushed back to her. A memory of Cal Greene, a memory she should not have had. A memory from another timeline.

The worlds were coming together.

Piper froze the fire in Prue's hand, distracting her long enough for Phoebe to grab her from behind.

Prue fought back hard. The Phoenix were a threat, and what if they killed her family?

She couldn't let that happen, no matter what.

Wyatt was losing blood, the world around him was fading in and out of focus. He saw his brother fighting, saw the Source winning, and wondered if they were both going to die.

He did not want to look, but when he closed his eyes, he saw himself destroying San Francisco.

Barbus watched the scene below him, then looked over at the shadowed corner of the room where the Seer stood. They locked eyes, and the Demon of Fear smiled.

Chris gasped as the flat side of the Source's blade came down on his hand with a resounding whack.

It stung.

And Excalibur fell from his grasp.

Lynn threw a low voltage energy ball at Prue, and she stumbled and fell, her head hitting the ground and darkness creeping into her vision. Phoebe turned to glare at the Phoenix, but Lynn, deciding Prue was no long a threat, had already moved back into the battle.

The Hollow seemed to hesitate. The witch had not turned evil yet.

A demon attacked Mel from behind, she barely escaped in time. Blood spread on her shirt from a knife wound, but it was shallow, and not poisoned, and she ignored it.

The Source knocked Chris to the ground.

"You really think you can stop me?" he sneered. "Don't be a fool. Even the prophesized Twice Blessed Child was powerless against me, and compared to him, you are worthless." He conjured a fire ball in his hand and gave Chris one last chilling smile.

Piper turned, and saw the Source, and saw her son, and screamed.

And Leo opened his eyes at his wife's scream and pulled himself to his feet, pushing the fog of confusion away.

And the Source laughed.

And then, quite suddenly, the fire ball disappeared, and the Source arched back, pain flickering in his eyes as his body went stiff.

Leo, Paige, Phoebe, Piper, Mel, Lynn, the other Phoenixes, the demons, and the Seer all looked in bewilderment, not understanding what was happening.

But Chris saw.

Bianca was standing behind the Source, her arm plunged into his back. The strain of holding him in place showed on her face and in her voice as she managed to gasp out a brief command.

"What ever…you're…going to do,…do it…fast! I can't…hold him…for long."

Déjà vu.

"_I don't need you."_

_Wyatt, evil. Cruel. Tyrant. Long hair, icy eyes._

_Bianca, scared. Still cared for him, still loved him..."You promised you wouldn't hurt him!"_

_Wyatt, amoral. Uncaring. Cold. "And you promised you'd turn him. Like I turned you, or at least I thought I had."_

_Paige, frowning at the date on the calendar. "Tomorrow is November 23… That's when we first met Bianca."_

"_Haven't we been here before?"_

_Leo, explaining fate. "Because he was fated to die on that day, and when it is someone's time to die…"_

"_Death will find them, no matter what."_

_Phoebe, angry, trying to convince him not to trust Bianca. "She already betrayed you once, Chris. She took you back to Wyatt."_

_And it was today, in the other timeline, that Bianca faced Wyatt and…_

_NO!_

"_Haven't we been here before?"_

_Wyatt, evil. "The evil from the future I came back to stop isn't a demon. It's Wyatt."_

_Gideon dead, Wyatt saved, future changed. "Saving Wyatt was great and all, but Ria and Adam… I worse than killed them!" _

_Mel, understanding, caring, kind, "It's called triage, Chris. Maybe you don't have the right to decide who lives and who dies, but you do it anyway. You have to do it, because if you try to save everyone, you will end up failing to save anyone."_

_Bianca, surprised. "I worked for Wyatt?"_

"_Yeah, you know, the Source of All Evil!"_

_Bianca, angry, trying to get him to talk, trying to get him to listen. "Well, he isn't going to turn me and he isn't going to kill me."_

"_No, maybe some other Source will do it for him!"_

_Piper, curious, "Did you get a look at the other demon?"_

_Phoebe, worried. Scared. Terrified. "Yes… It was the Source."_

"_Haven't we been here before?"_

_Bianca, cold. Callous. Determined. "We were naïve to believe that we could change anything. To stop him? Impossible."_

"_You don't believe that… Or, at least, you didn't."_

"_Well I do now."_

_Chris, scared. Terrified. Frustrated. Why wouldn't the sisters help him? _

"_Is that what this is about? You blame us for what happened to you?"_

"_I just want you to get it right this time!"_

_Save the world. Save us. Save yourselves. Save _me

_Spells, blood, fighting, energy balls, fear._

"_What ever you're going to do…"_

_Wyatt threatening to kill Chris. Kill his brother. Wyatt, evil._

"…_do it fast."_

_Images, memory, understanding…what is meant to happen, will happen._

"_I can't hold him…"_

_Today, all those years ago; today, in the other timeline…_

"…_for long."_

_Déjà vu._

"_Haven't we been here before?"_

"_Maybe we will be again."_

"NO!"

The Source broke out of Bianca's grip and spun around, kicking her heavily in the chest. The Phoenix flew through the air and over the edge of the citadel, suspended in space for a moment, before plummeting to the ground below. Her body smashed into one of the tables, and it broke under her weight.

Chris turned in time to see the broken table leg impale his fiancée through her stomach, and watched, his silent scream of horror frozen on his lips, as her eyes glazed over and closed.

* * *

Author's Note: To all of you who liked Bianca, I apologize. To all of you who hate her, you can do your happy dance now. She's officially dead, and not coming back. 

Next Chapter: Fade to Black

Due: Fri 8/4


	53. Fade to Black

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: The italics are memories, either from earlier chapters or from the episode Chris-Crossed.

Wow, I did not forsee the amount of reviews I was going to get at Bainca's death. You all seemed more upset about her dying than you were when I killed of Kyle. So I figured I should make a few things clear. First of all, I have nothing against Bianca. I actually really like her. She has always been one of my favorite characters from the show even though she was only in one episode. And I tried several times to rewrite that chapter so that she didn't die, but she had to. For the sake of the story, she needed to die like that.

She won't come back to life and she won't be a white-lighter. She's completely dead and gone. But that does not mean that I am going to introduce a new love interest for Chris or anything like that. This is still a Chris/Bianca story. And although she is dead, there will still be some Chris/Bianca moments in future chapters... you'll see what I mean. She is still very important to the plot.

* * *

Chapter Fifty-Two: Fade to Black

_ Things not what they used to be  
Missing one inside of me  
Deadly loss this can't be real  
Cannot stand this hell I feel_

_- Metallica, __"Fade to Black"_

Time stood still.

The moment seemed to hang, suspended forever as it stretched out into eternity.

"_Will you marry me?"_

"_You're asking me now? Here?"_

Chris spun around and faced the Source, throwing his hands forward and conjuring all his power. A telekinetic blast flew from his fingertips, smashing into the Source. Caught completely by surprise, the demon barely had time to register the attack before it caught him full in the chest and sent him flying backward. He fell heavily to the stone floor of the Citadel, a hair's breadth away from the edge.

"_This is dangerous. There's always a chance you could get hurt."_

"_Welcome to my life. I've dealt with danger before."_

"_I just can't lose you."_

Chris barely realized that his father had come running up the stairs, was only vaguely aware of the blast of electricity from Leo's hands that knocked Barbus to the floor, ignored the Elder as he hurried to Wyatt's side and dropped to his knees.

He was focused solely on the Source.

Chris released another telekinetic wave, but this time the Source was ready. He raised his hand, palm outwards, and absorbed the blow. Conjuring a fireball, he smirked and advanced on the witch-lighter.

"_It's time."_

"_I don't want to go. I don't want to leave you."_

The fireball grazed Chris' side, but he didn't feel the burn. He reached out his hand again, and summoned Excalibur. Holding the sword tightly, he launched another attack. But this time he moved faster, and with more ease, swinging the great sword around as though it was a toy.

Wyatt woke, opening his eyes and staring into his father's face. A thousands thoughts and feelings rushed through him as he tried to figure out what had happened. The anger was still there within him, the power fueled by rage still flowed through his veins. But something else was tugging at the back of his mind, telling him insistently that something important had occurred, and he needed to figure out what it was.

He looked from his father's relieved eyes to his brother's furious expression, to the broken body of his brother's fiancée, and the realization hit him hard.

"_Well, I'll give you this, Chris, you sure know how to pick them. She's got one hell of a body."  
_  
"_You have no idea…"

* * *

_  
Lynn stood, frozen to the spot, unable to move. Her eyes were riveted on her daughter, she couldn't tear her gaze away. The image burned itself into her mind so strongly, so deeply, that she knew, even if she had looked away, she wouldn't be able to forget the memory of her daughter's still form.

"_Wait. Do you have to leave so quickly? Can't I help?"_

"_You want to help me? Some day in the future when I ask you what it feels like to kill, don't lie to me. Don't tell me you don't feel a thing."_

And suddenly, she felt a hatred unlike anything she had ever known. Hatred for the Halliwells, for dragging her daughter into this fight, for getting her killed in both timelines. Hatred for Chris, for loving Bianca, and making her love him back. Hatred for herself, for not having found a way to protect the one person who mattered more to her than anything or anyone else in the world.

But above all else, hatred for the Source.

"_We're coming with you on this, Bianca. I don't care what you or the Halliwells say to that. I am not letting you face the danger of the Source without us by your side."_

She knew what she had to do.

Calling the other Phoenixes to her, she started towards the Citadel. They clumped around her, moving quickly, vanquishing any demon that stood in their way. But the demons had stopped fighting, as though they somehow realized that the pain and fury the young Phoenix's death caused would tip the balance of the fight towards Good.

They moved up the stairs. Lynn blinked back the tears that formed in her eyes as she drew closer to the top of the Citadel. High above them, the Hollow pulsated, absorbing magic, buzzing with its own inner energy.

"_To obtain the amount of power necessary to return the Hollow, should it be released, we will need several Phoenixes to recite the inscription. You need us."_

The Hollow was free.

But not for long, Lynn thought savagely. The Hollow would not be free for long.

* * *

Piper flicked her wrists, Paige threw an athame, Lynn hurtled an energy ball, and the last of the demons went up in flames. Piper looked around the now empty cave. It was anti-climatic, in a way. The demons had just stopped fighting, the will gone. She had assumed that Bianca's death would spurn them on, cause them to work harder and faster. But it didn't, and for some reason, they all just seemed to stop. 

Well, not everything was anti-climatic.

The eldest Charmed One looked up from where she was kneeling at Prue's side. Her niece was unconscious, which Piper knew was probably for the best. With Bianca dead, there was nothing left to keep Lynn from killing Prue if the witch attacked her again.

Her gaze continued upward to the top of the Citadel. Wyatt was slowly getting to his feet, his eyes dark with rage and fury. Leo was saying something to him, trying to get the Twice Blessed to calm down, but Wyatt didn't appear to be listening.

Piper tore her gaze from her older son, and switched it to her younger. Chris was fighting the Source with more power and more passion than she had ever seen him use, and in the past few weeks she had seen many different sides of him that she didn't realize were there.

Piper sighed and glanced back at Bianca's body.

"_Oh my God. He loves her."_

"_Loves who? Bianca?"

* * *

_

Chris slammed Excalibur forward, a sharp jab that caused the Source to flinch away. He continued fighting, his green eyes blazing with fire, as he lunged towards his opponent. He was dimly aware of his brother and father behind him, arguing about something. He didn't know what it was, and he didn't care. Nothing mattered to him in that moment, nothing but the one person who was now gone.

"_Yeah, well, life has a funny way of screwing everything up, doesn't it? Look at us, who would have thought that this is where we would end up?"_

"_I suppose."_

The Source was ready this time, and he brought his own sword down, smashing the blade along the length of Excalibur. Both swords vibrated, almost leaping from their owners' grasp as the impact of the blow shot shivers up Chris' arm and caused the Source to stumble slightly.

Chris attacked again. He was suddenly tired, exhaustion filling every fiber of his being. He didn't want to do this, he didn't want to be here. He wanted nothing more than to forget this place, this battle, this loss. The pain was nearly more than he could bear.

"_Chris, you know you're the only one who can do this, the only one who can save us."_

"_If I make it back safely…"_

"_Baby, you have to make it back safely, if you want to marry me."_

He faltered, and the Source charged forward viciously. Excalibur fell from his grasp, and he didn't even bother attempting to evade the Source's attack. He didn't have the energy, the strength, to keep up this battle. He watched the sword swing towards him, and drew a sharp breath, waiting.

The blow never came.

Chris turned to see Lynn and Matt flinging energy balls at the Source with rapid efficiency. The energy did little harm to the demon, but it distracted him long enough for Leo to run forward and tackle Chris to the ground.

The Source's sword sliced through the air were Chris had been standing only moments before.

Lying on his stomach on the hard stone, Chris found himself staring over the edge of the Citadel, his eyes fixed on Bianca.

"_It's time."_

"_I don't want to go. I don't want to leave you."

* * *

_Prue groaned and opened her black eyes. Anger swam through her as she realized that Lynn had attacked her, had hit her with an energy ball. She jumped to her feet and looked around the cave, searching out the blonde Phoenix.

But as she did so, she realized that something was wrong.

Her mother and aunts were no longer hovering around her. Most of the demons were gone, and the Phoenixes had congregated at the top of the Citadel. Lynn and Matt were attacking the Source, and Wyatt had just picked up Excalibur, preparing to join the fight. Leo was kneeling next to Chris, who was gasping for breath as he stared at…

Prue followed his gaze, turning to see…

One Phoenix down. She conjured a fireball and nodded to herself, pleased. Bianca was gone, and she was clearly the greatest threat. She was the one who had tricked Chris into falling in love with her, she was the one who would betray them all.

And now she was out of the way.

But Prue found her gaze drawn back to Chris' haunted eyes, and some strange feeling lodged itself into her heart. She wasn't sure what it was… pity, maybe? Pity that Chris couldn't see how he was really better off without the Phoenix?

Prue walked briskly towards the Citadel, prepared to climb up the steps, when a hand grabbed her and spun her around. She stared up into her mother's worried face, and struggled to rip her arm free of the empath's grasp.

"Let me go," Prue hissed.

"Prue, listen to me. This isn't you!" Phoebe hissed. "I know this isn't you."

"_You betrayed him. You could have gotten him killed, you almost did!"_

"_You did, too! You betrayed all of us. _I_ was trying to save the world, but when _you_ sold the Resistance out to Wyatt, you were just trying to gain _prestige_." _

"Of course this is me, Mom," Prue snapped back. "I'm just doing what you all should have done a long time ago. How can you trust any of them after what happened with the Khail? _How_?"

"Prue, swettie…"

"Do you have any idea what that was like for me?" Prue fumed. "To be trapped in those memories, completely unable to escape?" Her voice was rising in the cave, echoing off the walls, and competing with the clash of swords from above. "To know that they weren't real, that I wasn't actually living through that world again, but having no idea how to get out? Wanting to scream… wanting to scream and scream and scream, but knowing no one would hear me?"

She stepped away from Phoebe, looking up at her mother with cold eyes.

"_I never told Wyatt anything that I learned. I never…"_

"_You wanted to. You came to me on the stairs in that shopping mall pretending to be on my side. You convinced Chris that you could help him, you made him _fall in love _with you, and all you wanted was to turn him over to Wyatt so that you could…"_

"Oh, God, Prue," Phoebe cried, reaching out for her daughter. Her heart was breaking as she realized how much she had failed to protect her daughter.

But Prue stepped further away from her mother. "You trusted them. Haven't we learned enough from the past, Mom? Haven't we learned not to trust anyone but ourselves? The others we work with…"

"Prue…"

"They betray us every time," Prue whispered.

"_Shut up! I screwed up, I _know_ that. But I was willing to admit it when I realized that I was wrong, and I came back to you all and asked for _forgiveness_. I did it because I _loved_ him and I cared about all of you."_

"_Yeah, right. Or you just realized that Wyatt wasn't the great Lord you thought he was and so you came crawling back."_

"Bianca is one of us," Phoebe said, the words coming easily to her lips. In that one moment, when she had seen Bianca fall from the Citadel, she had finally realized that Bianca was one of them. Chris didn't just love her, he was _in_ _love_ with her.

And he would never be happier with anyone else than he was when he was with her.

"She's an assassin," Prue cried incredulously.

Phoebe nodded. "Yes, she was. But she was going to marry Chris. She was going to be a Halliwell as well." She paused, regret filling her. The realization had come too late. "She was on our side."

"_I worked as a spy for you all, I saved you life on numerous occasions, and I risked everything to get Chris out of Wyatt's clutches when _you_ sold him out. How could you do that to your own cousin?"_

"_Wyatt wouldn't have hurt him." _

Prue shook her head. The words made sense, she _knew_ they made sense. She knew that Chris loved Bianca, she knew that Bianca loved Chris. But she couldn't accept them as true, couldn't believe it. It was too hard to comprehend, too hard to understand.

"No," Prue said firmly. "Bianca is a Phoenix. She's an assassin. She will _always_ be an assassin. We can't trust her."

"_If you really believe that, then you are as much a fool as you are a traitor."

* * *

_

"_I had this whole great speech worked out."_

Leo pulled himself away from Chris, and the Elder and witch-lighter climbed to their feet. Behind them, Wyatt was fighting the Source violently, forcing him back across the stone of the Citadel. To their right, Lynn and the other Phoenixes gathered around the box, staring at it in silence. Somewhere in the midst of all of this, Leo realized suddenly, Barbus had woken and shimmered away.

Lynn opened the box.

And Chris knew that the battle was about to be over.

"_I spent a long time thinking about the perfect way to propose. It involved a thousand roses and the top of the Golden Gate Bridge. And, obviously, a ring." _

But it had ended too late.

"_But I don't have a thousand roses, I don't have a ring, and we aren't on a tower of the Bridge."_

Chris tried to watch Lynn, but his eyes kept being drawn back to Bianca, back to the woman he loved, back to the blood that had slowly seeped out onto her clothes.

"_All I have is the knowledge that I want to marry you, and I'm hoping you feel the same way. Marry me."_

"_Y-yes."

* * *

_

The Source cried out furiously, "No!" From below in her shadowed corner, the Seer echoed the cry in a quieter voice. She knew it was over as well, and she closed her eyes, unwilling to watch the plan fall apart.

They had been so close.

The Hollow returned to the box, and Lynn snapped it shut quickly. Then she and the other Phoenixes recited the inscription engraved into the wood.

"Abolio exume ga ume to eternius!"

Phoebe turned away from Prue long enough to watch the Hollow disappear. As the Source struggled to reach the Phoenixes, Wyatt beat him back, and Phoebe let out a slow breath of relief as she realized that it was well and truly over. She couldn't quite wrap her mind around the idea that they had won, that the weeks of struggling and planning and counter-planning had actually ended.

But it wasn't quite over. When Phoebe turned back to look at her daughter, Prue was already gone, racing up the steps towards the top of the Citadel.

And several thing happened at once.

The Seer and the Source disappeared, fading away as hell called them back. They didn't burst into flames or exploded, they simply faded, their shadows lingering a moment longer than they did. Leo watched this, feeling the anti-orbing spell lift from the cave, and Wyatt paused, his sword in mid-swing, and realized that his advesary was gone. He sunk to his knees, his eyes still black.

Prue launched the fireball at Lynn, who dodged it easily and conjured an energy ball of her own. Piper crained her neck back to look up at the top of the Citadel, and raised her hands to freeze the energy ball in Lynn's hand, while Phoebe sprinted up the steps, praying she could get between her daughter and the grieving Phoenix before it was too late.

Paige looked around the cave, realizing in confusion and overwhelming fear, that someone was missing. She asked no one in particular, "Where's Mel?" and recieved no answer. All eyes were focused on the top of the Citadel, on Lynn and Prue, and Paige alone was left to panic over her daughter's disapearance.

Prue conjured another fireball and sneered at Lynn, "Join your daughter." As she uttered the mocking threat, Chris spun around to face his cousin, fury etched into every line of his face. His green eyes were filled with rage and pain, and he waved his hand unthinkingly, attacking Prue before he had a chance to realize what he was doing. She flew backwards onto the stairs, hitting her head on the stone, and succombing to the darkness that surrounded her.

Chris gasped in shock as he looked at Prue's form, surprised and confused about what he had just done. Then the world began to spin as everything suddenly hit him all at once, and his breath came in short gasps. He felt a hand grab his arm, he heard his mother call his name in alarm, but he couldn't respond. He fell to his knees, his throat closing painfully, tightly, as the last of his breath left him. His vision began to blur, the world fading out of focus. He could hear nothing except a fuzzy monotone in his mind, as though the world was a radio and he was listening to the white noise that existed between stations.

Darkness settled around him, and his world faded to black.

"_What about Bianca?"_

"_Bianca won't be a threat anymore."_

_

* * *

_

Next Chapter: Watch Me as I Fall

Due: Wed 8/9


	54. Watch Me As I Fall

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's Note: Well, the final battle is over, but our heroes still have a little ways to go before their other battles are over. Italics are memories from an earlier chapter.

* * *

Chapter Fifty-Three: Watch Me As I Fall

The cave was dark.

The Demon of Fear looked around for a moment, eyeing the shadows that stretched out across the floor. He tilted his head back and sniffed, smelling the air of the cave. It was tainted by fear, but the fear was mixed with something else.

Hatred.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," Barbus called out in a sing-song voice. His lilting words echoed in the silence of the cave, unanswered.

And then he heard the sound of footsteps, and a girl walked out of the darkness, stepping into the small pool of light in the center of the cave. She looked up at him, her brown hair pulled away from her face in a loose ponytail, her eyes flashing with anger, her lips pressed into a thin and determined line.

Then she waved her hand, and Barbus felt the power hit him in the chest, throwing him off his feet. He flew through the air and crashed into the far wall, sinking to the ground with a heavy thud.

"Get up," Mel said in a harsh voice. Barbus made no move to obey her demand, so she swung her hand in a wide arc and sent him flying through the air once again, this time crashing into a different wall. "I said _get up_."

She walked purposely over to the demon, raw energy crackling through her. As she neared him, he groaned and rolled over, and she saw the battered bruises on his chest and the blood on his shoulders. She wondered if it was from what she had done, or something that someone else had done during the fight.

She didn't care. He maybe hurt, but she was going to make him hurt more for what he had done, and that was all that mattered.

But she had forgotten to be careful.

When she was only a short distance away from him, he sprung to his feet with more agility than she had thought possible. He crossed the room towards her, standing in front of her before she had a chance to react, and waving his hand across her face.

"Interesting," he mused as he read her fears. He smiled, a mocking smile that spilt his face into a sneering expression. "Your greatest fear is to be completely powerless," he said softly, almost gently. "To stand by and watch while everything you care about is destroyed, and to not be able to save anyone or anything."

Mel felt as though she was paralyzed, pinned to that one spot on the floor. Barbus' words invaded her mind, clouding everything else from view except for his leering face.

"Tell me, little girl, did you realize that because _you_ showed up at the battle, because your mother paused when she saw _you_ there, she was hit by a dark-lighter's arrow? _You_ are the reason she almost died."

Mel shook her head frantically, as though the gesture could somehow erase the truth in the demon's words. They echoed in her mind, over and over…

_You are the reason…. Because you showed up at the battle… she saw you… you are the reason…_

"Ironic, isn't it?" Barbus continued. "You were so afraid of not doing anything, you had to join the fight with them. You couldn't just stay behind like your mother had requested, no… you thought if you didn't come, someone you care about would die, but as it turns out, your mother almost died _because_ you went…"

Mel shivered. She wanted to deny the words, opening her mouth to argue, but nothing came out. After a few moments of struggling to form a sentence, she gasped out, "No… no one died… I didn't… nothing…"

"No one?" Barbus asked, laughing. "What about that Phoenix, little girl? She died, didn't she? And your cousin, he is probably in so much pain right now… Guess you didn't even manage to save either of them…"

He was standing close to her, so close that she had to tilt her head back slightly to look up into his eyes. They were cold and callous and smug, and she wanted nothing more than to wipe the cocky grin from his face.

"I suppose it is a legitimate fear, though," Barbus continued. "I mean, you weren't there to save your father…"

Anger broke Mel out of her temporary paralysis. But she forgot completely about her powers, and instead attacked the demon with her bare hands, pummeling his chest with all the strength she could muster.

"Shut up! SHUT UP!"

Barbus was caught by surprise, but only for a moment. A few blows landed on him before he managed to shove Mel away from him and to the floor. She struggled to get back to her feet, but Barbus hit her in the chest, knocking the wind out of her, and she sunk to her knees.

The Demon of Fear crouched down next to her and whispered, "You're always going to be a liability for your mother. Do you think that just because you are a future Charmed One your mother will be able to let you fight without worrying? As long as you are there, she will be distracted. She won't be able to fight her best, because all her thoughts will be about protecting _you_. And that will get her killed. _You_ will get her killed."

"No… I have… power…"

"Yes, you do," Barbus agreed. "A lot of it. But you are still just a thirteen-year-old girl. You are too young, too naïve, to battle Evil. But the demons will still target you because of who you are and who you will be. You just don't have the ability or experience to defeat them. You're a _liability_. All you will end up doing is getting yourself, or someone else, killed."

"No…"

Barbus stood up suddenly and glanced towards the darkened entrance to the cave. He frowned, gave Mel one last look, then disappeared, leaving the young girl alone by herself.

A moment later Paige came running into the room. She paused as she took in the sight of Mel, crumpled on the floor, tears cascading down her cheeks. Then she ran to her daughter and pulled her into a frantic hug. All the anger she had felt when she realized that Mel had joined the fight against her specific instructions, all the fear that had welled within her when she looked around the cave and realized that Mel was gone, it all drained from her, to be replaced with relief.

Mel was shaking. Her entire body was trembling so badly she had to lean on her mother to stand up. She reached up to wipe the tears from her eyes and clung tightly to Paige's arm.

"Mel, sweetie? Are you alright? Are you hurt?" Paige asked, scanning her daughter's body for any sign of physical injury.

Mel looked up at her mother, then whispered, "I'm okay." She looked away, and Paige orbed the two of them home.

* * *

Wyatt sat on the top of the Golden Gate Bridge and looked around the city. It never ceased to amaze him that people didn't see the magic all around them. How could they miss it? How could they be so oblivious to something that was so important? It affected everything he did, it made him who he was. It made his entire family who they were, and yet… people just didn't seem to see it. 

Leo watched his son in silence. As soon as Chris had collapsed on the Citadel, Leo had blown sleep dust on Wyatt. The Twice Blessed had fallen into a deep slumber, which had allowed the others to leave the cave without the added distraction of worrying about him.

The moment he had awoken, however, he had orbed from the house. The Elder, alerted to his son's sudden departure, had tried to sense for him. But for an hour, Wyatt could not be found.

Then Leo had finally sensed his son on the Bridge, and had orbed after him. Wyatt did not object to his father's presence, but he also had not spoken a single word.

At least he wasn't trying to torture demons or fight Sarina and the other Khail.

Leo looked down at the box he was holding. The box that held the most powerfully magic… thing… in the entire universe. It hummed in his hands, begging to be opened, be released.

Funny how something so small could cause so much fear and pain.

"I came back," Wyatt said at last. Leo gave him a curious look, and he elaborated, "I let go, but then I came back."

"Yes," Leo agreed. "You did." He didn't say how relieved he was. He didn't say how he had no idea if he was going to be able to bring his son back had Wyatt not come back on his own. He didn't say how he had been terrified.

Wyatt already knew all of that anyway.

* * *

"_Prue?"_

"_Go away, Chris."_

"_Why won't you talk to me? Tell me what's wrong."_

"_I saw… those dreams… memories… whatever the Khail did to me… I saw."_

"_Saw what?"_

"_I saw who I was. I saw what I did. I saw the type of person I could become if I…"_

Death, Prue decided, was not supposed to feel like this. Death was not supposed to feel at all. Not until your soul left your body and traveled to… wherever souls went after death.

"_No! That person isn't you, Prue."_

No, these feelings… pain, confusion, despair, hatred, anger… these were not the feelings of death.

So, did that mean she wasn't dead?

"_You think you can come in here and tell me that everything is going to be okay? That I'm not going to become that person? You know as well as I do that those are all lies. It's not okay. It's never going to be okay!"_

It was dark, wherever she was. Dark and lonely. She was trying to break free from it, but it was like being caught in a swamp, in quicksand. Every time she tried to take a step forward, she slid back into the mud and dirt that clung to her legs. The more she struggled, the further she sank into the tar-like substance.

It wouldn't let her go.

"_And I am so scared. Because now… now I feel like I am standing at the edge of this cliff, and if I take one wrong step, I'm going to fall… and I can't… I can't live with myself if I become her."_

"_You won't be that person."_

The darkness pressed in on her from all sides. She couldn't breathe in this place. The air was hot and humid, and it burned her throat as she gasped for oxygen. She tried to remember why she was here, what had happened, but it was all a haze, too misty and entangled for her to grasp the truth. All she could see was the darkness, all she could remember was pain.

"_I know what you are scared of, and I'm not going to pretend that it isn't a possibility. But there is one major difference between you and the other Prue."_

"_And what's that?" _

"_Us." _

She didn't know how long she had been there. It felt like eternity.

She thought she felt hands on her shoulders, the warm glow of healing around her head, but the darkness still did not let her out. She fought and fought against the quicksand, but kept sinking, kept being pulled back further and further into the dark.

"_You stood at the edge of that cliff, and you fell, and we were so busy trying to save ourselves that we didn't notice you. You fell, and we… we let it happen." _

Then a voice whispered her name, and something cold fell across her eyes. She shut them tight as the trickle of some liquid tickled her neck and created small circles of dampness on the collar of her shirt.

"_That's not going to happen this time. You have your parents, my parents, Wyatt and I, Aunt Paige, Mel and Pen… and even if you get to the very edge of that cliff, even if you start to fall, we'll be here to pull you back before you hit the bottom."_

When she opened her eyes again, the swamp was gone, and she was lying on the sofa in the manor, looking up into her mother's concerned eyes.

"Mom?" Prue croaked, her voice scratchy.

Phoebe gave a sigh of relief, her daughter's eyes were no longer black. She handed Prue a glass of water and said in a soft voice, "Here, drink this."

Prue pushed herself into a sitting position and took a few sips of the cool liquid. After a moment, she asked in confusion, "What happened?" She remembered the Seer, the black water, Lynn, Bianca… oh, God, Bianca… and then her memories faded.

"It's okay," Phoebe replied without answering the question. "You're okay now. It's over."

"I tried to kill Lynn," Prue muttered. She looked down at the glass of water, watched as the clear liquid swirled around inside the cup. "She was on our side, and I… I thought she was a threat."

"Prue, honey…" Phoebe took the glass from her and placed it on the floor next to her feet. "That wasn't you, that was what the Seer did to you."

"She didn't do anything," Prue replied bitterly. "At least, she didn't do enough to make all of that _not_ me."

"Prue…"

"When Bianca was dead, when I saw her… I was pleased. One more threat out of the way. It didn't matter that Chris loved her. Actually, it was better that Chris loved her because I thought it made her more of a threat," Prue spat, her tone twisted with loathing and disgust.

"The Seer did something to you with that water," Phoebe argued. "Whatever you say, whatever you think, you know the Seer did something to you." She placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "You _know_ that."

"I know that if I had killed Lynn, it would have been my own decision," Prue replied quietly. "And I would have been evil." She looked her mother straight in the eyes and said, "And you know that too."

Phoebe was silent, struggling to come up with an adequate response. She wanted to comfort her daughter, but there was nothing she could say.

Because her daughter was right. Prue had tried to kill Lynn of her own accord. And if she had succeeded, she would have been evil. And that terrified Phoebe more than anything else; not just that her daughter could have turned, but also that she could have done it of her own volition.

"We wouldn't have let you," Phoebe argued suddenly. "We wouldn't have let you kill Lynn, we wouldn't have let you turn evil." She tried to reach for her daughter again, but this time Prue shrugged her off and stood up, stepping away from the sofa.

"Do you really think you could stop me?" Prue asked softly.

"We did this time," Phoebe pointed out.

"And what about the future, Mom?" Prue retorted. "What about then? Will you always be there? Will everyone always be there to make sure that I don't fall?" Her voice was rising now, filling the room as her panic and fear grew.

"Yes," Phoebe said firmly. "We're always going to be here for you, Prue. If not me and your father, than your cousins. Or your future husband. Your future children. Someone is always going to be there, because we are you _family_."

Prue shook her head. "You can't promise me that, Mom. You can't promise that you will always be there." She was crying, tears stinging her eyes.

Memories came rushing back to Prue. She could see herself running past her mother up the steps of the Citadel. She could see herself attacking Lynn. All her anger, all her pain, all her fear… she would have killed Lynn, could have killed Lynn… except for Chris. If he hadn't stopped her…

It terrified her to know what she had almost done. It didn't matter that they had stopped her. It didn't matter that she wasn't evil. It didn't matter that Lynn was still alive.

She had become that other version of herself. In that one moment, she had become the other timeline's Prue.

And she knew she had it in her. She knew she could become that person at any point in the future.

"We are never going to just let you become evil," Phoebe argued back, standing quickly and moving towards her daughter. When Prue stepped back again, the empath sighed and said, "Prue, sweetheart, listen to me. We've all reverted into things we don't like. Piper into a fury and a Valkerie, me into a banshee. And the wife of the Source of All Evil. And a mermaid. Paige's been a vampire, and there was the time that Prue got infected with Pride when we were fighting the seven deadly sins… But you know why we all got back to ourselves? Because our sisters saved us. We're a family, and we are always going to be there for you."

Prue wiped the tears away from her eyes and said softly, "I really wish I believed that." She rubbed her arms, suddenly unnaturally cold despite the warm San Francisco day.

"Then believe it," Phoebe implored, terrified at the idea of watching her daughter slip away.

"I can't," Prue said simply. She ran a hand through her hair and took a shaky breath, willing her emotions back under control. They refused to obey her command, instead growing rapidly. The panic and fear would not leave her alone. "In the other timeline, my family didn't save me."

"That was…"

"Different?" Prue asked. "Yes, Chris would say the same. He would argue that in the other timeline we weren't a family anymore." She shook her head and gave a hollow laugh. "But that isn't true. All those times Wyatt could have killed Chris, and didn't. All the times we risked our lives for each other, all the times we comforted each other. The birthdays we celebrated, even in the midst of the war, the nights we stayed up talking just because we wanted to hear the other person's voice." The tears came again, and she didn't even both to blink them away. It hurt to speak, to force the words out of her mouth, but she had to say them. She had to at least try to make her mother understand. "All the times when Chris could have killed baby Wyatt, and didn't. All the times we could have given up, should have given up…" She licked her dry lips and said firmly, "We were a family, and they still couldn't save me."

"Prue…"

"Maybe it wasn't them, maybe it was me. Maybe they couldn't save me because I couldn't be saved."

"This _isn't_ you destiny," Phoebe replied with feeling.

"I know," Prue said. And she did know. This was not her destiny, her fate. It was not something that was going to happen no matter what. "But that doesn't it _won't_ happen." She shivered again, the unnatural cold seeping into her bones. "I feel like I am still falling off of that cliff," she whispered, more to herself than to her mother. "Still falling, still waiting for you to catch me… But you can't. Not every time. Some day… some day I'll fall, and you… you will just…" She didn't finish the sentence.

At least, she didn't finish it out loud.

But the thought reverberated around in her mind, refusing to leave her alone.

_Someday you will just watch me as I fall.

* * *

_

Chris' eyes snapped open.

The first thing he registered was that he was no longer lying on a hard stone floor. There was a pillow underneath his head, and blankets over his body. All his injuries had apparently been healed, but a fog clouded his mind, muddling his thoughts.

Where was he? How had he gotten here?

He pushed himself to a sitting position and looked around. He was in his room in the manor, lying on his bed. Sunlight streamed in through the window, illuminating the room. The door to the hallway was closed tightly shut. In front of the door was a chair, and perched on the chair, regarding Chris with saddened and worried eyes, was Piper.

And then all the memories came rushing back, and Chris let out a gasp of air as he recalled the previous night's events.

"Hey," Piper said softly. She was wearing different clothes, and her hair was wet, so Chris assumed that she had showered after the fight. Her eyes were red and puffy, and Chris realized she had been crying.

Had she been crying for Bianca? Or had someone else died?

"Mom? Did we… did we lose anyone… else?" Chris asked, the words catching in his throat as he tried to force them into the tense silence.

Piper shook her head. "No," she whispered, her voice just as shaky. "No one else."

"Prue?" Chris asked. "How is she?"

Piper looked away, a brief flash of pain echoing in her eyes. "She's alive," the Charmed One replied, and Chris knew there was more to tell. But Piper didn't elaborate, and Chris found he didn't really want to ask.

Chris swung his feet over the other side of the bed and tried to think of something else to ask. Finally, he gestured to his mother's bloodshot eyes and said, "You were crying." It was phrased as a statement, but Piper understood the question Chris was really asking.

Had she cried for Bianca?

Piper hesitated. She didn't want to lie to her son, but she also didn't want to tell him the truth. She had not shed a tear for the Phoenix's death. It wasn't that she was glad that Bianca was dead, quite the contrary. She would never have wished death on anyone, least of all her son's love. Part of her was sorry that the Phoenix was gone, but not enough for her to cry for Bianca.

The tears had not come until her son had collapsed, until Phoebe had cried out, her empathy powers picking up Chris' pain. Then the saltwater tears had coursed down her cheeks, blurring her vision.

She had cried for him.

But she couldn't say that. She couldn't look into Chris' haunted eyes and tell him that she had not cried for Bianca. So she said instead, "I cried for her. And for you. For the future you two could have had." Her words sounded hollow, even in her own ears.

"She's _dead_," Chris spat. He didn't know why he was angry. He didn't know what he was angry at. He didn't understand the feeling that rose within him, but he didn't bother to fight it.

He was furious.

Piper stood and walked over to him, but he flinched away from her touch. She looked at him with hurt in her brown eyes, but didn't make any move to get closer to him. Instead, she said simply, "You loved her."

Chris felt the tears burn his eyes. Those three words hurt more than anything else had, because they reminded him of…

_Loved_.

Past tense.

"Yes," Chris said softly. "I did." He twisted on the bed and looked at of the window, up at the brilliant blue sky. How could the sun shine? How could the sky be so completely cloudless? How could it be such a perfect day when he felt like this?

He was on his feet before he realized what he was doing, and the air was suddenly filled with flying pillows. They slammed into the walls, falling in a heap by the door. Next several books rose into the air and smashed back onto the desk, splintering the wood. Pencils toppled over the side of the desk onto the floor.

Piper tried to get to her son, but he pushed her away from him with such force that she stumbled back, almost falling. "Chris!" she screamed at him, but he didn't hear her.

Chris paused for a moment. Destroying his room with magic was not giving him an adequate outlet for his anger, so he switched to using his hands. Grabbing his chair, he lifted it and threw it across the room. It broke into several pieces as it hit the wall, and a dent appeared in the white plaster. Chris then spun around and seized a picture frame from the top of his dresser, hurling it to the floor and watching as the glass shattered.

He didn't even have any pictures of the two of them. Because they had been so careful about keeping their relationship a secret, they had never taken pictures of themselves together. He had nothing left to remember their relationship by. Nothing at all.

A hand grabbed his arm and pulled him around. Chris yanked his arm out of his mother's grip and tried to move away from her, but she reached for him again, pulling him into a tight embrace.

Chris struggled to break free from his mother's grasp, but found he couldn't. She was strong when she wanted to be, and no matter how hard he struggled, she held on, refusing to release him.

"_Why_?" Chris cried angrily. "Why her? Why us? What did we do to deserve this?" He was sobbing now, sobbing so hard that he could barely form coherent sentences. "We _saved_ the world… we made… made it _better_… we _deserved_ to… to be _happy_… we didn't… this isn't… this isn't _fair_! Why _her_?" With one final surge of strength and energy he threw himself free of his mother before falling onto the ground, shaking with pent up rage and anguish.

The tears came quickly, blinding him. He felt a hand on his shoulder and leaned towards the hand. An arm wrapped around him, pulling him into a tight hug, and he collapsed into his mother's embrace, all the pain of the past night coming out in the form of sobs.

Piper rubbed circles on her son's back, her heart breaking as she watched him, as his weight fell against her.

"I'm here," she whispered gently, knowing the words would mean very little, but hoping they could give Chris some comfort. "We're all here for you, peanut. We're always going to be here for you. We love you so much."

But it wasn't enough. It would never be enough, and Piper knew that. They might all be there, but Bianca wasn't.

And she was the one Chris needed the most.

* * *

Next Chapter: The Witching Hour 

Due: Fri 8/11

* * *

Author's Note: So, originally I was going to put what happened to Wyatt during the hour he was gone in this chapter, but then this chapter got a bit longer than I wanted. So I'm making a sort of mini-chapter for the next chapter that explains how Wyatt came back. Since it is really short, the update is going to be really soon. After that the remaining chapters will probably come out once a week or so. 


	55. The Witching Hour

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: The italics in this chapter are a flash back to the hour that Wyatt was 'missing.' Within the flashbacks, the scenes not in italics are visions or memories that Wyatt is having.

* * *

Chapter Fifty-Four: The Witching Hour

His first distinct memory was of his brother's birth. He remembered that his father had been in tears about something, and he remembered that he had been scared. And he thought that maybe he had been in the Underworld at some point during that day also. But he didn't really ever stop to wonder why he had been there. He may have been only a toddler at that point, but he was a Halliwell. Strange and dangerous things always seemed to happen to him.

But he also remembered being in the hospital with his family, and seeing his mother holding… something. Something small, and pink, and wrinkly. He remembered how happy everyone was, and how strange the entire day felt.

But mostly, he remembered the feeling of jealousy that this little thing got to be held by his mother. Why did the thing have to be there? Why couldn't it just go away? Why couldn't everything go back to the way it was before, when it was just him and his parents and Aunts, and no one else to steal the attention?

Of course, now that he could look back on that day more clearly, and now that he knew the full truth about why his father had been upset, why he had been in the Underworld, why he had been scared…

Now the jealousy was no longer there. It had disappeared a while ago, to be replaced by love for that wrinkly thing. And hatred for all the people who had caused his brother pain.

Wyatt closed his eyes and felt the wind whip through his hair, buffeting his clothing. On the tower behind him, he knew his father was still watching him with concerned eyes, as though he was worried that Wyatt would lose it completely and start killing innocents. But he also knew that his father longed to be with Chris right now.

And Chris needed his father more right now anyway.

Wyatt turned and looked over at Leo. "Nothing is going to happen to me, Dad. Go back to Chris. He needs you."

Leo gave his older son a wan smile and asked softly, rhetorically, "And you don't?"

Wyatt sighed. He did need his father, but not as much as Chris did. "Go," he said again. When Leo made no move to budge, Wyatt continued, "Please. I need you to be with Chris, to be helping him, more than I need you to be with me."

Leo reached out and ruffled his son's hair. "You are an amazing older brother, Wy. Never forget that." Then he orbed away, loathe to leave one son behind, but relieved that he would be able to see the other.

Wyatt stared at the spot his father had been sitting, and shook his head. He wasn't an amazing older brother. He used to think that, but older brothers were supposed to protect their younger siblings, and he had failed to do that.

In both timelines.

He thought of Bianca, and felt the tears prick his eyes. It hurt to think of her, to think of what Chris must be feeling. To see her die twice…

If Chris had not decided to face the Source himself after Wyatt fell, he would not have been in danger.

But Wyatt would have been dead.

If Bianca had not intervened when she did, she would not have died.

But the Source would have killed Chris.

If Bianca had not died, Chris would not have been in so much pain, would not be falling apart right now.

But he also would not have had the strength to hold off the Source long enough for the Phoenixes to return the Hollow to the box, and the world would have ended.

And no mortal had any idea that all this had happened. They did not realize that everything could have ended last night. They went on with their lives, oblivious to the pain and heroics that had filled the previous night's battle.

The greatest heroes were the ones you never even heard of.

Wyatt sighed and closed his eyes, letting his mind drift back to the hour he had spent wandering around, lost and confused, after the battle had ended.

_Black eyes surveyed the cave around him. The immediate past was a jumble of memories, culminating in the briefest dusting of sleep powder which had sent him headlong into dream-world. He was awake now, and had left the Manor, and his worried family, to seek solitude in the Underworld._

_He didn't know how he had ended up where he was. He had never been there before, but the placed had called him. It was dark. The rough walls were lined with sockets that had once held flaming torches. But the torches had not been lit for over two decades._

_He lifted his hand, and his palm began to glow as tiny orbs appeared, bright white spheres of light. He threw them into the air, and they hovered there, illuminating the room. The cascading light fell over an object in the center of the cave, and he walked towards it. He knew what it was before he was even close enough to discern the smooth basin and the dark water. He knew what it was, just as he had known it would be here._

_He touched the surface of the black water, causing ripples to spread out from his fingers. _

_The Seer's pool. _

_Anger boiled inside of him. He felt heat radiate from his fingers, electricity crackling through his veins. He slammed both hands forward, and watched as beams of bright energy flew from his palms and smashed into the far wall. A small explosion occurred where the energy hit the stone, and dark scorch marks appeared on the wall._

_He had wanted to kill something. But the demons had shimmered away from him the moment he appeared in their lair. The dark-lighters had black-orbed out when they sensed him coming. The warlocks had blinked away, and he was left hurtling energy balls at empty air._

_He had even returned to the cave where he had faced Sarina and the Khail, but it had been empty. _

_It seemed no one wanted to fight him tonight._

_And that was what had finally brought him here, to this cave, to the place the Seer had once called home. _

_The black water glowed._

_His rage burned, crackling like fire under his skin._

_A little voice in his mind spoke up, telling him that what he was feeling right now wasn't him. This was the warlock's doing, and he needed to come back._

_He couldn't come back. He didn't _want_ to come back._

_He slammed his fist into the black water, not even knowing why he was doing it. As his hand submerged beneath the cool liquid, he felt a vision form behind his eyes, and found himself staring at an image of himself._

He and his grandfather were standing alone in the kitchen. Victor had drawn himself up to his full height, and was staring down at his rebellious and disgruntled grandson. Wyatt glared up at him defiantly, refusing to back down.

_Wyatt blinked in confusion. He remembered this… but he didn't remember it. As he watched the scene unfold, it felt so familiar, and he knew exactly what was happening in it. But it was from a different timeline, a timeline he had only heard about, one he didn't remember. _

Victor was speaking, "Wy, you know you are only suppose to use your powers to fight evil and save innocents."

_He had erased someone's memory. Whose? He thought about it for a moment before an identity came to mind. A social worker… someone wanted to take Chris away… put him a foster home…_

_He couldn't remember the details, but he remembered the overpowering need to not lose Chris also._

Wyatt erupted into fury. "Mom died, and I couldn't save her! Aunt Phoebe and Uncle Jason were killed, and I wasn't around to hear their screams for help." A plate behind him exploded, but he pushed on regardless, ignoring the apprehensive look that now adorned his grandfather's face. "My powers couldn't save them, couldn't keep them from being torn away from us, but they can save Chris. Why can't you understand?"

_Wyatt swallowed, shaking his head, and the image faded away. Yes, he could understand his other self's point of view. It didn't matter that he had used a spell on an innocent. It didn't matter that it had been personal gain. The only thing that mattered was that it kept the family together. _

_Another image floated before his eyes._

He struck down one warlock and then another, each time picturing a family member in agony. First his mother's closed eyes as she took her last labored breath, then his father's broken-hearted look as he leaned over Piper's grave holding flowers in his shaking hands. Aunt Phoebe clutching at her stomach as blood seeped from the wound, and Uncle Jason's body burned almost past recognition. Aunt Paige's tear-streaked face as she attended yet another funeral, Uncle Richard holding her tightly in his arms. Chris and his cousins screaming as they ran from yet another demon attack, Grandpa staring white-faced at the warlocks that had just invaded his home.

_How many demons had he killed that night?_

_In a fit of rage, Wyatt slammed his hands into the stone basin, tearing it from its base and sending it crashing into the floor. Black water spilled over everything, and tiny fragments of stone littered the cave floor._

_He turned away in disgust, and found himself staring at an apparition. _

_It was Piper, but a different Piper. His other self's mother. She was dressed all in white, her long hair flowing behind her, a gentle smile gracing her features. She held out her hand to him, and he reached for it, but his fingers slipped through her palm and he found he was clutching air._

_He looked up at the ghost again, and it was no longer his mother. Instead, Bianca, and infinitely colder Bianca, was staring down at him. Her accusing brown eyes were narrowed into slits of thin ice. She was dressed all in black leather, and she was mortally wounded in the stomach, blood spreading from her tan skin onto her clothes. _

_He sunk to his knees on the floor, the water seeping into the cuffs of his pants and soaking his clothes. He could feel the dampness, and it left his cold and empty. He shivered, chilled to the bone._

_The apparition bent down next to him, and it was Melinda. She smiled mockingly at him, and he responded by reached out and slapping her across the face. But as his hand connected with her cheek, he felt a searing pain in his own face, and winced, turning away._

_Power, he knew, fed on itself. Power corrupted, and absolute power corrupted absolutely. _

_He didn't want to come back. In the world beyond morals and right and wrong, nothing hurt. It was easy, so easy, to slip into that world, and forget everything and everyone that had mattered before. It was so easy to become someone else._

_He didn't want to come back._

_There was no pain here._

_That, he knew, was a lie._

_Pain followed wherever he went. The other timeline was not devoid of pain. Perhaps there was less of it, but then, perhaps there was less of the good moments as well._

_Chris was suddenly standing where Melinda had been kneeling before, and he looked down at his brother with disgust. Unlike the other specters, he spoke._

"_You're getting weak, Wy. I thought you didn't need me."_

_Wyatt looked away, some strange emotion tugging at his heart. The black water was rising, and he wondered where it was coming from. The floor of the cave was completely covered in at least three inches of the water, and could that much have actually fit into the Seer's pool?_

"_I don't need you," Wyatt whispered. And he didn't. If Chris didn't join him, he would simply kill the witch-lighter. He needed no one, least of all his annoying brother._

_He shook his head. Why was he thinking these thoughts? That was a different timeline, and he was not that Wyatt._

_Right?_

_Another image appeared before his eyes, and he wondered how the Seer's pool had contained so many memories of a timeline that no longer existed._

Chris stood in front of Wyatt's playpen. His eyes were filled with angry tears that wouldn't fall, and his entire body shook with rage. He stared at Wyatt for a moment, and the young toddler looked up, completely oblivious to what the witch-lighter from the future was feeling.

"If I can't save you, I swear to God I will stop you," Chris promised. Then he turned and walked away.

_Wyatt's body began to shake. He wasn't sure what it was about that scene that pierced his heart so much._

_No, he decided, he did know._

_I'll stop you, stop you, stop you…_

_He needed Chris._

_He needed Chris to need him._

_The black water faded away, seeping into the cracks between the rocks, and Wyatt was left alone in the dark cave._

_His eyes faded slowly back to blue._

He had orbed to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was an hour later, and the night was still dark. It had not surprised him when his father showed up minutes later, but he had not been able to speak. The words were trapped in his throat, and he simply stared out at the city around him and wondered how anyone could not see the magic that lingered everywhere.

* * *

Next Chapter: Tribunal

Due: Thur 8/17


	56. Tribunal

Title: The Lost Future 

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's Note: So FFN still won't let me use the ruler bar to seperate sections. Not entirely sure why that is, but for now, each section will be seperated by the words 'new section.' Not very creative, but hopefully it will work. Sorry this is late, FFN keeps not letting me upload documents.

_ begin chapter _

Chapter Fifty-Five: Tribunal

"How is he?" Leo asked under his breath before his body had even finished fully materializing in the hallway outside his son's room. Piper was sitting on the floor by the door, her head in her hands, and he knelt down beside her, worry flooding his senses. He placed the box with the Hollow on the floor, and reached out to lay a hand on Piper's shoulder.

"He's been better," was all Piper could really say. After his meltdown, he had suddenly decided to continue his destructive spree, and the room had been almost completely ruined. In the end, Paige had appeared, seemingly from nowhere, and thrown a sleeping potion at Chris. Piper, after transferring her son's body to his bed, and had demanded to know what Paige had been thinking. To which Paige had merely replied that at the rate Chris was going, he was going to self-destruct, and perhaps they needed a plan for how to help him grieve.

Which was why Piper was now sitting on the floor in the hallway outside of her son's room, resting her head in her hands, and frantically trying to come up with a solution to a problem she knew she couldn't actually solve.

"He's asleep now," Piper continued, standing slowly. Her muscles were sore, the final battle had left her tired and tense. She had not even bothered to find ice for the spreading bruises on her arms and stomach, or to take pain relievers to quench the now pounding migraine. She didn't have the time. "Where's Wyatt?"

"He's still on the Bridge," Leo replied. "But don't worry," he continued quickly as Piper looked at him in shock and reproach for leaving their other son alone, "He's okay. He came back to us."

Piper slowly let out the breath she didn't realize she had been holding, and nodded. "Good," she said, her voice filled with feeling. She knew it would be a struggle for Wyatt to break through the emotions that had trapped him, and she was glad that he had managed. She wondered vaguely to herself how he had done it, but decided not to ask. The fact that he was back was good enough for her, and she had another son to worry about.

"I don't know what to do about him, Leo," Piper whispered.

The Elder pulled her into a hug, tightening his arms around her shaking shoulders. "We'll figure something out," he promised. "We won't let anything happen to him." He wondered how much of the promise he could keep. He had long since come to accept the fact that they couldn't protect Chris from everything anymore. He had hoped that they would be able to protect him from this sort of pain, but…

Piper glanced down at the box next to Leo's feet and said, "Should we return the Hollow to its original location?"

Leo shook his head and sighed, regretting having to bring this subject up at a moment when no one really wanted to deal with it. But it would have to be said sooner or later.

"I thought we could use it for evidence when we talk to the Tribunal."

Piper stiffened in his arms and stepped backwards, looking up at him with fire in his eyes. "We are not going to be put on trial. Not after everything that happened!"

"We don't have a choice," Leo objected. He hated being in this position, having to argue with his wife and her sisters about something they didn't want to do. He understood her point of view, he even agreed with it. After everything this battle had cost them, he was not feeling too kindly towards the Tribunal or any other symbol of authority in the magical world.

But that didn't mean that they could simply ignore the Tribunal. There was too much still at stake, and a refusal to meet with some of the most powerful beings, good and evil, would only cause them more harm.

"I don't want to do this," Piper whispered.

Leo nodded and replied without thinking, "I could do it for you."

Piper looked at him in surprise and confusion. "What?" she asked.

Leo shrugged. "Let me see if I can convince the Tribunal to allow me to represent you three without you having to be there." He looked at the door behind Piper and continued, "Chris needs you right now, and Prue needs her parents. Mel and Pen need Paige, and Paige needs a chance to actually grieve for Kyle. Let me see if I can handle everything else for you."

Piper nodded gratefully. "Chris needs you too," she murmured, leaning into Leo's chest, her voice slightly muffled.

Leo closed his eyes and thought of the other Chris, and the disappointment and anger that always seemed to linger in his eyes whenever he looked at his father. Even after they had moved past his issues, and that Chris had agreed to give Leo a second chance, the anger was still there. Their future witch-lighter had not been able to completely disregard the lifetime of hurt he still felt.

But things had changed. Leo had changed, as had his relationship with Chris.

He opened his eyes and looked at the door to Chris' room again. "He's got me," he replied, his voice barely audible.

_ new section_

She stared at the Halliwell matriarch and the Elder, her red eyes watching their movements. She was invisible, hidden safely out of sight, as she observed them from her spot pressed against the hallway wall. She held her breath, listening as they spoke to each other in soft tones. Something inside her twisted sharply, and after a moment of thinking, she realized it was pity.

The Source and the Seer were back in hell. Jhorun had lead several other members of their clan in a brief and efficient battle against a few of the more powerful upper level demons, and they had won easily. Her clan had come out of that fight almost unscathed, and the demons had certainly not been as lucky. Meanwhile, the epitome of Good, the Charmed Ones, their progeny, and the Twice Blessed, seemed to be falling apart.

She reflected on all this and realized that it couldn't have worked out better.

But she couldn't quite shake the feeling of pity and sorrow that still clung to her as she watched the oblivious husband and wife.

She was evil, they were good. She had made a deal with them, but the Source and Seer had been defeated, and now the deal was no longer a matter of concern. She could attack them again without breaking her word.

She was evil, they were good.

_"You may be evil, but we have at least one thing in common. Your greatest concern is for the safety of your clan, my greatest concern is for the safety of my family. I don't know much about the Khail, but I do know that, unlike other demonic clans, you value each other's lives more than anything else. In that sense, you are more like us than like the rest of the Underworld." _

She was evil, they were good.

Except, now that she had met Chris, some things seemed to be a little bit more gray.

She liked it better when everything was black and white.

Who knew that someone as old as she was, and she had been around for almost eternity, could learn something from someone who was so young?

Still, she mused, hadn't she always known that the world was more gray than anyone seemed to admit? Hadn't she always known that nothing in life was ever simply black and white?

The world had changed in the millennia that she had been around. She had seen societies move from monarchies to democracies, she had watched as witches were burned at the stake, and as innocent men and woman accused of being witches met just as grisly deaths. She had seen the advent of science and technology. She had seen good and evil work together, and she had seen good betray good and evil betray evil.

But through it all, one thing had remained constant.

The all consuming need to protect her clan, no matter the cost.

And to that end, the Halliwells would always be a threat.

She knew it was time to end the truce, and she shimmered from the manor.

_ new section_

"You just left!" Pen hissed at her sister as she paced the floor of the basement. When, during the final battle, she had realized that Mel was no longer in the house, she had absolutely no idea what to do. She was scared, terrified, of what would happen to her sister, and it had gnawed away at her as she sat in front of the Book, flipping through the pages, trying to come up with a solution to the problem.

She had found no solution. Summoning spells had not worked, and she knew better than to orb after her sister. If Mel had joined the battle, the last thing her mother and aunts needed was to have another thirteen-year-old child in the way.

Her family had orbed home, but without Mel and Paige. And she had panicked. Phoebe had assured the worried witch-lighter that they were fine, but Mel had been… missing… and Paige had gone to find her. Pen was not entirely sure how that explanation was meant to soothe her worries, but she could tell from the harried look on Phoebe's face, and the fact that Prue was unconscious, that it would not be a good idea to press the issue.

When her mother and sister had orbed into the manor, she had been relieved beyond words. But as the entire story of what Mel had done unfolded, both joining the fight and then disappearing at the end of it, her relief turned to disbelief and anger.

"Pen…" Mel murmured in a tired voice.

Paige had left them alone in the basement for a moment as she went to check on Prue and Chris, and Pen had let her anger be known.

"Do you have any idea how terrified I was?" Pen hissed. "What were you thinking? How could you be so stupid?"

Mel didn't answer. She flopped down on the floor, leaning back against the wall, and stared vacantly at the air in front of her.

Pen, too upset and angry to notice this, continued her rant. "You just left. You didn't tell me anything! What if something had happened to you? What if something had happened to me? What if something had happened to someone else because you weren't where you were supposed to be?"

"Everything's fine," Mel whispered, more to convince herself of that then Pen.

Pen shot a disbelieving stare at her sisters as she thought of the look on Paige's face when the older witch-lighter had informed her of Bianca's death. It was ironic, she had thought, that the family was grieving for Bianca now, when only a few weeks ago they were debating vanquishing her themselves. Or, at least, Piper had been. But emotions in this house changed quickly, and Bianca had finally been accepted into the family.

Just a few moments too late.

Pen shook her head. "Not everything is fine. And even if it was, that wouldn't make you disappearing okay," she stated firmly. She was no longer yelling, but the anger was far from gone. Mel's earlier thoughtless comment rang in her ears. When Paige had first suggested that her daughters stay behind, and Pen had instantly agreed to the plan, Mel had said…

_You're just afraid of going down there! _

Well, what if she was? What was wrong with that? She was _thirteen_.

"You sound like Mom," Mel commented bitterly.

"Because Mom was right. God, don't you think before you do things?" Pen's anger and rage was quite uncharacteristic of the normally soft-spoken witch-lighter, and it surprised not only Mel, but herself as well. But she had been terrified, and it only served to feed her growing frustration and fury with the entire situation. "Do you have any what could have happened because you disappeared?"

Mel stared at Pen for a long time, an unreadable expression on her face. Then she said simply, "Yes," and turned and walked up the attic stairs.

Pen watched her sister's retreating form and couldn't help but wonder what had happened.

_ new section_

Leo set the box on the table and looked around the empty space. The circle of light illuminated the area around him, and he rubbed his weary eyes as he took in the vast expanse of nothingness encircling the light.

"It seems we were mistaken," Aravis said softly, his voice echoing.

Leo stared up at the giant floating head and was sorely tempted to point out that threatening to punish the sisters for their actions, remove the Hollow from their protection, and therefore irrevocably help the Source bring about the end of the world could hardly be describe as a 'mistake.' More like pure stupidity.

But he held his tongue.

"We are indebted to you that the world is still in existence," Adair added, giving Leo a brief nod.

Leo forced himself to reply calmly, "The sisters were merely doing there job. I trust that this provides adequate proof that we were telling the truth?"

"Oh, yes," Adair quickly reassured him, "all allegations against the Charmed Ones and their actions have been dropped."

"Then I should return the Hollow to its rightful place," Leo said quickly, placing his hand on the box and preparing to orb away.

"Of course," Thrask agreed, his face twisted into a smile that Leo did not quite trust. "We understand the need to return to your family. After all, they are dealing with terrible events…" He let the sentence hang in the air, filling the space between the floating heads.

Leo turned apprehensive eyes to the demon and replied simply, softly, "Yes, we are."

"I am most concerned for young Prue," Crill added, his tone dripping with insincere sympathy. "She seems to have a terrible burden to bear. Do you think she will be able to handle it on her own?"

"You can't take her powers," Leo said sharply. "She's done nothing to threaten magic and she has not used her powers for personal gain."

"Of course not," Adair said sharply, giving Crill and angry look. The demon ignored his Elder colleague and stared straight at Leo.

"I was not suggesting anything of the sort," Crill defended himself. "I was merely expressing sympathy for the child."

"Although…" Thrask gave Leo an appraising look, then turned to Crill and said, "now that he mentions taking her powers, perhaps…"

"No!" Leo hissed. He took a moment to calm his anger and said in a softer, but no less emphatic, tone, "No." Mentally, he cursed himself for not realizing this possibility. Of course the demons would try to take someone's powers, and Prue was the obvious target. He should have known what they would say and been more prepared. He had always been worried that the Tribunal would try something, but he had never expected it to be _this_. He had assumed that whatever their plans were, they would be tied directly to the Hollow.

"Perhaps it would be best if they were simply bound?" Crill murmured. "Give her some time to deal with her issues without the unwanted complications of her powers?"

Leo stared, aghast, at the demon. He wanted to argue the point, to explain that Prue needed her powers, that it would leave her open to attack if she were to lose them, that she really could handle them…

But hadn't he wondered the exact same thing himself? Hadn't he asked himself whether or not he should suggest binding Prue's powers to Phoebe? At least until she had a chance deal with the problems that were currently plaguing her?

Hadn't he been worried about all his nieces? After all, the reason that the Power of Three went back to the original Charmed Ones was because their daughters and nieces did not want it. Were they truly ready to deal with the burdens of being Charmed? Of being magical? Or had everyone just assumed that they would be able to handle the responsibilities because that was there destiny. No one had actually asked them if they wanted this, it had merely been thrust upon them since they were old enough to understand the meaning of the word 'witch.'

"The idea has its merits," Adair spoke up, and besides him, Aravis nodded.

Leo swallowed and replied, "That is not my decision. I am sure that Prue and Phoebe both are considering the idea." As long as the Halliwells did nothing to incur the Tribunal's wrath, Leo seriously doubted that they would forcefully remove Prue's powers.

He hoped.

"After all, the recent battle has shown that the Charmed Ones and their offspring have a difficult time balancing their magical duties with their familial ones," Crill said.

"How so?" Leo demanded. The sisters had stopped the world from ending. How could anyone claim that they did not fulfill their responsibilities to the magical world? What more could anyone ask from them? "They saved the world. What more could you want from them?"

"Oh, we are quite impressed by their most recent actions," Aravis rushed to assure Leo. He shot a sideways look at Adair, who nodded slowly, as though giving permission for Aravis to finish his train of thought. "However, we cannot help but wonder about the… mental wellbeing of your family. This battle has taken a harsh toll and them, and it seems to me… to _us_… that perhaps not all of the Halliwells are ready to face the realities of who they are and what they are meant to for in this world."

"They are fine," Leo bit off the words angrily. How dare the sanctimonious Tribunal speak to him like this, like they had any understanding of what the real world was like? They sat here, in the middle of nowhere, handing out judgments. But they did not live in the world, and they had no experience with any of this… He drew a breath to calm him anger and looked up again to meet Aravis' unwavering gaze. "They are fine," he repeated.

"So then you were never worried that Wyatt would not find his way back to your side?" Thrask asked pointedly.

"And you are not even slightly concerned about Prue's ability to handle her powers?" Crill added, a smirk twisting his features as he took in Leo's pale face.

"And Mel's complete disregard for your instructions, her disappearance after the final battle, her distant and unemotional behavior since you returned home… none of this is of any concern to you?" Thrask suggested, his tone slightly mocking.

"What about the sisters themselves?" Crill murmured. "The famous Charmed Ones, saviors of the magical community of Good… don't they often run from their problems? How many times have they needed to be persuaded to do what was necessary instead of simply accepting the inevitable?"

Leo closed his eyes and thought of Piper turning into a Fury at Prue's death. Phoebe turning into a mermaid and fleeing from them all after having to vanquish Cole. Paige initially refusing to meet with the Tribunal after Kyle's death. "They eventually solved every problem," Leo replied stubbornly, opening his eyes and glaring at Crill. "Maybe it did take some persuasion. Can you blame them? They certainly didn't ask for this!"

"Do you think, Leo, that any of us ask for our lot in life?" Adair interrupted. There was a silence, then the Elder continued, "I understand that the burdens your family bears are much greater than those of the average mortal. And their accomplishments to date have made the Elders proud." Here Thrask gave a snort of disapproval at the Elders words, but Adair continued as though the demon had not interrupted. "But you must take a moment to think of this from our point of view, Leo. We do not concern ourselves with the minute details of every day life. We do not concern ourselves with the welfare of each individual member of the magical community. We worry about the _overall_ community, and to that end, the Charmed Ones have sometimes become… problematic."

"How can you ignore the individuals?" Leo demanded, trying his level best to keep the hostility out of his voice. "How can you treat this as though it is just a chess game and none of the pieces have their own thoughts and feelings?"

Thrask gave a dark chuckle and replied, "Because it is just a game, Leo. And the pieces don't matter."

A hot, angry sensation bubbled inside of Leo's stomach at those words, and he replied through gritted teeth, "Many people would disagree with that point of view."

"I have no doubt of that," Crill cut in smoothly. "Witches and demons do not like to be manipulated, coerced, or forced into their actions, do they?" His tone was mocking, and Leo swallowed nervously, wondering where the demon was going with this line of reasoning.

"But sometimes it doesn't matter what those witches and demons want, Leo," Aravis said heavily. "Sometimes you have to do what is right for the rest of the world, and…"

"And to hell with everything else?" Leo asked bitterly, remembering only belatedly that he was supposed to keep his temper in check.

"_Yes_," Adair replied. "Yes, to hell with everything else, as you put it. There are greater things at stake here than your family, and you have to understand and recognize that. The exposure of magic to the rest of the world could do more damage in one day than all the demons in the Underworld could do in a century. You _know_ that."

"I fail to see what this has to do with my family and their powers," Leo replied coolly.

"We are concerned that some of your family members, in their grieving state, will be unable to deal with their powers. This could make them a threat to the magical world in more ways than one," Aravis explained. "And it is our job to protect that world."

Leo opened his mouth to reply, but Crill interrupted abruptly. "We will not, of course, interfere in your family's decision to handle their problems however they see fit. They have, _so far_, done nothing to warrant our intervention," the demon said, placing strong emphasis on 'so far.' "But think over our words, Leo. We only offer them because we are concerned."

Leo thought idly that he really doubted it was concern that had caused the two demons to offer their… _advice_. But he said nothing, merely nodded.

"You have just saved the world," Aravis commented. "This is something to be proud of, I know, but I worry about your sons and nieces. The problems this battle has laid at their feet… be careful, because if they are not properly dealt with… Well, it would be a shame to destroy everything you have worked for just moments after having saved it."

He disappeared, and the other three heads faded away with him, leaving Leo alone in the vast nothingness.

The Elder looked down at the box that held the Hollow, watching as it vibrated with life and power, and fought back the fear that had been pounding through his veins for some time now.

They had saved the world, but would they be able to save themselves?

_ new section_

"We lost," the Source growled, his voice low and threatening. Who or what he was threatening was not entirely clear as there was little harm he could do anyone now. He was trapped in hell, and the portals to the other world that had been open to him once before were closed now. He would have to wait for thousands of years before the chance to escape came once again.

"Did we?" the Seer replied softly. She did not seem as upset by the outcome of the final battle.

The Source spun to face her, flames leaping into his eyes. "Yes!" He spat. "Yes, we lost!"

The Seer gave him a chilling smile and replied, "A few weeks ago, when I had a vision of the end of the battle, you asked me what I saw. You asked me if we won. Do you remember what I replied?"

The Source considered the question for a moment, his mind running over the events of the past several weeks, trying to come up with the incident the Seer was referring to.

_The Seer turned and looked at the demon, a strange light in her eyes. "I've seen the future," she murmured. "I've seen the fight." _

_"Do we win?" the demon demanded. _

_"That I have not seen," the Seer admitted. "The ending of the battle eludes me, I cannot quite grasp it." She turned back to the image in her pool. "They make so many sacrifices for the Greater Good," she mused, waving her hand and turning the water black. "And they will continue to make so many more." _

_"What did you see?" the demon pressed. _

_The Seer frowned and answered cryptically, "Suffering." _

The Source looked over at the Seer and gave a thin-lipped smile. "Suffering," he replied.

The Seer nodded. "We may not have won this battle, but then, I do not believe the Halliwells won either." She turned away and stared around the empty cave, their prison in the afterlife. "We are not the only ones who will suffer."

_end chapter _

Next Chapter: Suffering

Due: Tue 8/22

This is an approximate due date, it all depends on whether or not FFN decides to prevent me from uploading my documents. Hopefully the problem will get worked out before then.


	57. Suffering

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: A couple comments I want to make. First of all, the Source and the Seer are really gone and aren't coming back. That could have been confusing from the last chapter. See, after they failed in the final battle, they got sent back to hell (which is where they were at the beginning of the story as well). So my idea of hell is different from a lot of other people's idea of hell, and I think that the demons can still walk and talk and think in hell. They just can't get into our world. But the Seer and the Source are completely gone, and I think that was also the last time that you will here from them.

Also, I said this once before, but I'll reiderate since I seem to be making Sarina and Chris have a bit of a... well something... Anyway, this is never going to be Sarina/Chris. This will always be Chris/Bianca. Sarina isn't going to get paired with anyone at all. Ever. (At least not in this story). Right now, Sarina just feels respect and admiration for Chris. I immagine that most demons feel respect for the Halliwells, even if they are mortal enemies, but Sarina respects Chris specifically because of their previoius conversation, when he managed to convince her to have a truce. Once again... never, never, never _ever _Chris/Sarina.

* * *

Chapter Fifty-Six: Suffering

Paige poured herself a cup of tea and glanced at the clock on the wall. Leo had returned from his meeting with the Tribunal about half and hour ago, and informed them that the Tribunal would no longer bother them. But there had been something in his eyes when he said it, something that made her think that perhaps things weren't as resolved as he had claimed. Before she could ask him, however, he was gone, disappearing in a swirl of orbs to the Golden Gate Bridge.

Wyatt had come home, and was now sitting with his mother on the floor of the hallway outside Chris' room. The younger brother would be asleep for a while, the potion Paige had made had packed quite a punch to it. Still, she had no idea what would happen when he woke up.

Prue was sitting on the sofa in the sunroom, her legs pulled into her chest, her tear-stained face turned away from her mother. Paige had stepped out of the kitchen to check on her middle sister and her niece, and the sight that had met her eyes was somewhat disturbing. Prue looked as though she had completely given up on everything, and the confusion and desperation in Phoebe's eyes indicated that she had no idea what to do next.

But it was her own children that worried Paige now.

She glanced at the kitchen table. Mel was sitting hunched over in her seat, her dark hair falling over her dark eyes. Paige wanted to know what had happened in that cave before she had found her daughter, but all her questions were met with a stony silence.

Pen was sitting across from Mel, her expression torn between anger, confusion, and concern. Whatever she was thinking, Paige could not read her troubled eyes.

The air shimmered, and Paige automatically reached for one of Piper's kitchen knives. As she did so, she wondered idly how many of Piper's kitchen utensils had been used to kill demons, and did the eldest Halliwell just wipe them clean and continue to cook with them as though they had not previously been covered in demon blood?

But the figure that appeared in the room was not a demon.

Paige ran through a mental list of the Phoenixes that she had been introduced to before the final battle, trying to determine who this one standing in front of her might be. He looked familiar, and she vaguely recalled that Bianca had said the two of them were very close friends.

"Matt?" she asked at last.

Matt glared at the witch, and then, just for good measure, glared at Mel and Pen as well. "The funeral is this evening," he said through gritted teeth. "Five o'clock, at St. George's cemetery." His tone made it perfectly clear that he had absolutely no desire to relay this information and, had he had his way, he would never have requested the Halliwells' presence at the funeral.

Paige nodded. "I'll tell Chris," she replied softly. It was the first time she had spoken in a while, and her words caught in her throat.

Funeral…

They had never had one for Kyle.

The tears filled her eyes and her vision blurred until Matt's face was swimming before her in a sea of salty water.

"You do that," Matt said coldly, oblivious to the other witch's pain. "Not that any of us actually care whether or not he shows up," he added as an afterthought before shimmering from the kitchen.

Paige watched him go, wiping the tears from her eyes, and wondered why he had even bothered to come in the first place. She had little doubt in her mind that none of the Phoenixes would care about Chris right now, so why invite him to the funeral?

A few tears ran down her pale skin and fell onto the counter, creating tiny puddles. She wiped her hand over the counter, as though trying to get rid of the tears, but more continued to fall.

"Mom?"

She turned to see Pen standing next to her. Pen slipped her smaller hand into Paige's larger one and interlocked their fingers. Paige gave her daughter a slight smile as she noticed that Pen's eyes were no longer dry either.

Suddenly Paige wrapped her free hand around Pen and pulled her daughter into a tight hug. She looked over Pen's head at Mel, reaching out with one arm towards her other daughter.

Mel looked at her mother and sister, got up from the table, and left the room.

* * *

Chris opened his eyes and blinked away the fog. He sat up in bed and wondered how he had gotten there. A look at his destroyed room and disheveled appearance, and he suddenly remembered the previous anger. He remembered collapsing to his knees on the floor, he remembered his mother kneeling next to him as he sobbed, he remembered the sound of the door opening, catching sight of Paige's shoes as she stepped into the room, a strange smell as something hit the ground in front of him, and then… nothing. 

A sleeping potion, he realized with disgust.

He ran a hand through his hair and stood slowly. Creeping quietly to the door, he heard the sound of soft voices. One, he was fairly certain, belonged to his mother, and he thought perhaps she was crying. The other, deeper voice belonged to Wyatt.

Chris started, remembering abruptly that his brother had not been fully sane at the end of the battle. It appeared he was back now, and from the fact that Wyatt and Piper were talking and not fighting, Chris assumed that the Twice Blessed must also be fairly normal again.

_You know, you really should work on your redecorating skills. This is hardly your best effort. _

Chris snapped his eyes shut at the sound of the voice he both longed and dreaded to hear. Slowly, ever so slowly, he turned around and opened his eyes. She was sitting on the edge of his bed, wearing a dark blue jean skirt, boots, and a red spaghetti-strap tank top. She was smiling at him, her brown eyes filled with laughter.

_I mean, really, the broken chairs? Not practical or beautiful. Same goes for the desk. And would it kill you to dust once in a while? _

She wandered around the room, staring at the different pieces of furniture, idly picking up a broken pencil and dropping it onto the fractured wood of the desk.

"You're not real," Chris said firmly, as though the words could somehow make the phantom disappear.

_I'm every bit as real as you make me. _

He glared at her, and she gave a simple shrug.

"You are just a figment of my imagination. You died. I saw you die," Chris said resolutely. "You aren't real."

_Well, if I am just a figment of your imagination, then it is kind of pathetic that you can't get rid of me, isn't it? I mean, you can't even control your own thoughts. _

"What do you want?" Chris demanded wearily, crossing over to the bed and collapsing onto it. Outside the door, the voices hushed slightly, and he wondered if his mother and brother knew he was awake… and talking to himself.

_Well, I'd like to feel the sun on my skin. And I'd like to get drenched by the rain. I'd like to stand of the beach and watch the waves splash against the sand. I'd like to shimmer to the top of the Golden Gate Bridge and sit there as the sun rises over the horizon. _

"Stop!" Chris practically begged, clutching his head as a migraine began to form. She was standing in front of the door now, her arms crossed over her chest, her eyes narrowed into thin slits as she continued to talk quietly.

_And I'd like to feel the burn of an energy ball I wasn't quite fast enough at dodging. I'd like to be able to complain about a paper cut that I got at work the other day. I'd like to be upset because my grandmother or some other matriarch of my clan is coming to visit, and I know I'll have to sit through lecture upon lecture about how I had disgraced the clan by reforming myself. _

"Why are you telling me this?" Chris pressed, tears pricking at his eyes.

_Mostly, I think, I would just like to live. To feel the good and the bad, everything… just to be able to live. _

"I can't give you that," Chris pointed out, his voice becoming almost hysterical. The door flung open and Piper and Wyatt hurried into the room. The phantom disappeared from where she had been standing, and reappeared next to Wyatt, leaning against the bed. When she spoke, her voice was a low whisper, cold and menacing.

_No, you can't give me that. You're only good at taking my life away, aren't you? _

"Chris?" Piper advanced slowly on her son, who was now huddled on the bed, staring in horror at something only he could see.

"I didn't kill you!" Chris proclaimed.

_Then why do I always die? _

"I loved you. I still love you. This isn't my fault, this isn't…" Chris whispered.

Piper stared at Chris, and then realized in a sudden burst of clarity exactly what was going on. "Chris, look at me," she demanded, grabbing her younger son's chin and forcing him to turn his green eyes towards her. Once she was sure that she had his attention, she said in a strong and decisive voice, "She's not there, Chris. She's not real."

_But I am real. I am real because you make me real. Because you won't let me go. _

"Go away!" Chris hissed, wanting to deny her words. "Go away and leave me alone." He shook his head and glared at the phantom. "You aren't her, and I don't want you here."

_Of course you do. I may not be her, but I'm the closest you're ever going to get, now that she's gone. And you would rather spend all of eternity with me here, haunting you, then to have all your memories of her disappear completely. _

Chris swallowed back whatever retort he had been about to say and stared at her, unable to form any words. This was not his Bianca. He told himself, over and over, that this was not his Bianca. His Bianca would not do this to him, would not torment him and haunt. His Bianca would help him grieve and move on. She would not blame him for anything, even if he blamed himself, because she loved him. This… thing… was just a figment of his imagination, something fake and harsh. Not real. Not _her_.

But as he stared into the icy brown eyes gazing back at him, he also knew he wasn't ready to let go.

She laughed at him and faded away, her laughter echoing in his mind.

_Don't worry, Chris. I'll be back. _

* * *

Piper glanced around the cemetery and reflected that she felt very out of place. Bianca's grave was completely surrounded by hundreds of Phoenixes, pushing in on one another, struggling to get closer to their fallen family member. A few Phoenixes surrounded Lynn were she stood further away from the grave. She was looking in the other direction as though she could not bear to watch the casket being lowered into the ground. 

Piper wondered vaguely if the entire Phoenix clan had come to say goodbye to Bianca, or were there actually more assassin out there? She never really knew how large the clan was.

Piper scanned the crowd again and found Matt standing next to the grave. He had been one of the pallbearers during the surface. His bloodshot eyes were fixed on the simple wooden box that encased Bianca's body.

The Halliwells stood slightly apart from the Phoenixes. They clumped together. Leo had his arm wrapped around Chris' shoulders, and Wyatt was standing next to his brother, their elbows touching. Phoebe clutched Prue's hand tightly, and Jason stood behind the two. At first Phoebe had not wanted him to come, but he had told her very pointedly that divorced or not Chris was still his family and he had no intention of not coming. So the empath had agreed, albeit reluctantly, and Jason had taken his place behind his wife and daughter.

Paige had separated herself and her daughters from the rest of the family. She was in tears, the tiny drops of saltwater streaming down her face, and Piper knew that she was treating this as Kyle's funeral as well. Mel and Pen seemed to have the same idea as they were both in inconsolable tears. Pen had her arm linked through her mother's, but Mel stood slightly in front of the other two. She had been ghostly quiet since Paige had brought her back from the Underworld, and Piper couldn't help but wonder what had happened.

The sound of dirt hitting wood filled the air, and Chris gave a shuddering gasp and turned away, unable to watch. They were covering Bianca's coffin now, throwing shovelfuls of dirt into the grave.

When the grave was completely filled in, many of the Phoenixes turned and walked out of the cemetery. A few stayed to speak to Lynn, there hushed voices filled with sympathy and pain. She gave them all weak smiles before they too drifted away.

"What is _she_ doing here?"

All eyes turned towards a tall woman who was standing next to Lynn. Piper recognized her as one of the Phoenixes that had fought the Source and the Seer with them. She was tall, with long black hair and brown eyes. She looked to be in her late fifties. The skin around her eyes was covered in a tiny mesh of wrinkles, and her dark hair was streaked with gray. But she had a commanding presence, and the few remaining Phoenixes all looked up in surprise at her voice.

Piper followed the other Phoenix's line of vision, and saw that she was looking directly at Prue.

"She tried to _kill_ Lynn, and we let her come to Bianca's funeral?" the Phoenix demanded, outraged.

A few Phoenixes hissed their agreements as they glared at Prue. Prue took a step back, slinking away from the furious gazes turned towards her. She shot her mother a look, but Phoebe wasn't looking at her. The empath was furiously glowering at Lynn and the mystery Phoenix.

"I didn't know the entire family was going to come, Diana," Lynn murmured softly.

Diana placed her hands on her hips and said coolly, "Well, I don't think we should have invited them at all! They don't belong _here_, least of all _her_. Don't you agree, son?" And she turned and looked over at Matt.

"Yes," Matt replied vehemently. "Yes, I do, Mother."

"She was my fiancée," Chris spat at Matt. "I have just as much a right to be here as anyone else. And if you didn't want me to come, why did you even tell us when it was?"

Matt took a threatening step towards Chris. "You're right, Chris, she was your fiancée. But then you got her killed! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't do the same to you?"

"_Don't_ threaten my brother," Wyatt hissed.

"Why are you here? You killed her also!" Matt demanded, turning to Wyatt.

Wyatt's face flushed crimson at Matt's comment and he opened his mouth to retort, but a sharp and slightly hysterical stopped him.

"_Stop it!_ Stop it now! This is my daughter's _funeral_. We're _burying_ her today! You want to kill each other, fine! Great, go ahead. But do it _tomorrow_!"

All eyes turned to Lynn. She was trembling, her body literally shaking with raw emotion. Her watery eyes stared at all of them, unyielding, and one by one the Phoenixes nodded slowly and looked away.

Lynn swallowed back the sobs in her throat and turned, walking away from her daughter's grave. Eventually the other Phoenixes followed, most of them throwing angry looks at the Halliwells as they left.

"This is all my fault…" Prue muttered under her breath.

"Prue, don't say that," Phoebe murmured, tightening her grip on her daughter's shoulders. She turned and glanced down at Prue, and the girl just shrugged and looked away, tears slipping from her eyes and down her cheeks. "This is not your fault," Phoebe continued heatedly.

"Isn't it?" Prue whispered. "If I hadn't attacked Lynn… If I hadn't been so sure that I was right… that they were a threat…"

" Lynn is still alive," Jason said softly, reaching for his daughter. Phoebe shot him an annoyed look and he glared back at her. Did she really expect him not to intervene while Prue was falling apart?

"But Bianca's not," Prue replied. She reached up with one hand and brushed the tears away. "And when I saw her body… I was _happy_."

"Prue, sweetheart, the Seer…"

"Prue, it's not…"

"You aren't…"

Several Halliwells rushed, tripping over their words, to console Prue, to tell her that it was alright, that they knew she wasn't really happy about it, that it had been the Seer's doing, that she shouldn't blame herself.

But one voice echoed over all the others, harsh and grating.

"You what?"

Prue turned and found furious green eyes staring back at her. She took an involuntary step backwards, distancing herself from the pure loathing that radiated from her cousin's eyes. Chris had never looked at her like that before, and for the first time in eighteen years, she found herself suddenly afraid of him.

Chris' face was pale, drained of all color, and his dark eyes flashed dangerous. When he spoke, his voice was a low growl. "How could you be happy?" he hissed.

_Well, I guess she never really liked me that much, huh? _

He glanced sideways briefly, his eyes falling on his phantom fiancée who was suddenly standing next to him, glowering at Prue.

"I didn't… Chris, I… it was the… the Seer…" Prue stuttered, her throat suddenly dry. "I didn't… I'm not actually _happy_." Jason placed a reassuring hand on her elbow and Phoebe gave her a soft smile.

_The Seer didn't do anything to her. Just released some of her hidden emotions. She can't blame this on a demon. She was being herself when she tried to kill my mother. _

Chris crossed his arms over his chest and ignored the warning looks that both Phoebe and Jason were shooting him. "Oh, so it's all the Seer's fault, is it?" he asked coldly. "The Seer possessed you, did she? Or did she cast some spell on you? Or used a potion?" He paused for a moment, a cruel smirk curving his lips. "Or is it merely that you refuse to take responsibility for what you did?"

"Chris!" Piper reached out towards her son, but he side stepped her. She glanced back at Prue, who was staring at the ground, unable to meet anyone's eyes. She knew that Chris was grieving, and she knew that he had every right to be upset by Prue's earlier comment, but he also had to understand that she hadn't been herself at the time.

Had she?

"Chris, I didn't… I didn't want that to happen… I never… I wouldn't have tried to kill Lynn if… if the Seer hadn't…" Prue broke off as Chris drew himself to his full height, his body quivering with fury.

"Stop trying to blame someone else!"

_She really needs to learn how to take responsibility for her own actions. _

"Chris, I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…"

"Oh, well that just makes everything so much better," Chris said sarcastically, shaking his head.

"God, Chris, can't you leave her alone?" Mel demanded, crossing over the grass from where she and her mother stood to where Chris was standing. "Can't you see she's hurt enough as it is? You aren't the only one in pain right now!"

Chris stood completely still for a moment, flustered by Mel's comment. Then he said in a voice of forced calm, "So because she's upset about what she did, I can't be upset about it?"

"It wasn't her fault!" Mel snapped back, hands on her hips. "She thought what she was doing was for the best. She didn't know what was going to happen."

"Well, then maybe she should have listened to her mother and aunts when they were yelling at her to stop!" Chris hissed.

"Maybe she thought they were wrong, Chris. You ever think of that? Maybe she thought that they were wrong and they weren't looking at the situation clearly, and maybe she was just trying to protect them. How was she supposed to know that it would end up like this? Huh, Chris? How was she supposed to know any of that?" Her words came out as a shriek, high pitched and filled with fear and anger.

_I don't think she's talking about Prue anymore. _

Chris glanced sideways at the icy brown eyes smirking at him, and gave an imperceptible nod.

Mel paused, deflating slightly, and looked back at Pen, who was staring at her with wide eyes and an open mouth. She bit her lip for a moment, then said in a softer tone, "It wasn't her fault."

Chris ran a hand through his hair and took a shaky breath. "She wasn't under a spell, Mel," he said firmly. "She knew exactly what she was doing and it was _her_ fault." He stressed her, hoping that she would understand that he was referring only to Prue, and not to Mel.

Prue caught the emphasis, and her face flushed crimson with sudden anger. "Oh, so it is okay for Mel to not listen to Aunt Paige and almost get herself and her mother killed, but it isn't okay for me to try to kill Lynn? We both thought we were doing what was best."

"Yeah, but Mel actually did some good when she joined the fight. You just screwed everything up," Chris shot back.

"Chris, that's enough," Piper said firmly, this time successfully grabbing Chris by the arm and forcing him to look at her. "This is not the time or place to have this discussion. And it was not Prue's fault. The Seer…"

"Stop saying that!" Chris practically screamed. "Stop acting like the Seer did anything to her that she hadn't already done to herself!"

"Chris…" It was his father this time, the Elder's voice calm and authoritative.

Chris ignored him. "You weren't there. You haven't seen what she'll do when she isn't under any spell at all! You haven't had to stand in front of her and ask her why she just betrayed you and have her tell you that being family doesn't matter anymore! You haven't spent weeks in a cell praying that someone will rescue you because your _family_ sold you out. You haven't ended up with bruises and cuts and fractured bones because… because… because…" He couldn't finish the sentence, just looked at Wyatt with a hauntingly sorrowful look in his eyes.

"You said I wouldn't have killed you," Wyatt whispered, blue eyes wide with horror, as he thought back to the many conversations he had had with Chris after learning about his other self. "You said I wouldn't have…"

"You wouldn't have killed me," Chris muttered. "But that didn't stop you from hurting me."

_And I'm the one that saved you. _

"It was Bianca who rescued me," Chris continued in a softer, but no less angry, tone. "Did you know that? It was Bianca who rescued me from that cell… from that hell that you sent me to." He was glaring at Prue with all the fury and hatred he could muster.

"And you said you'd stop me!" Prue said in a low tone.

Chris looked at her uncomprehendingly. "What?" he asked, confused.

"You said you'd stop me, Chris. Do you remember that? Sitting in the living room at my Dad's place? I told you I felt like I was on the edge of the cliff, and you said you'd always be there to stop me. To pull me back. Do you remember that?"

Chris stared at her for a long time and said nothing.

"Do. You. Remember?" Prue pressed, her eyes blazing.

"Yes," Chris said at last.

_You were too busy trying to keep the world from ending. She can't expect you to always be able to drop everything for her. There is a much bigger picture out there and she isn't the only one who has to fight their inner demons. _

"You didn't." It wasn't an accusation, just a simple statement. Prue was staring up at Chris with tear-filled eyes, her pale face glistening with salt water trails. Beside her, Phoebe and Jason were both glaring at Chris. At some point during the conversation, Pen had come to stand next to Mel, and had slipped her hand into her sister's so that they were standing side-by-side, fingers interlocked. Paige stood a few steps behind them. Wyatt was still staring at Chris, his mind obviously stuck on the fact that he had locked Chris in a cell and beaten him. Leo stood with one hand resting reassuringly on Wyatt's shoulder, and Piper still had hold of Chris' arm.

Chris took a deep breath and yanked his arm out of his mother's grasp. "Wyatt came back without help," Chris said coldly, "and he didn't try to kill any of our allies in the process. Next time you start falling, catch yourself."

And he was gone, orbing away in a swirl of blue and white lights.

* * *

Author's note: In case this isn't clear, the Bianca-phantom is just a figment of Chris' imagination. Basically, she is like the devil on his shoulder, the one who says all the mean and cruel things he is subconsciously thinking, and therefore she is the one who makes him more aware of the cruel half of his personality. 

Next Chapter: Reminiscence

Due: Sun 8/27


	58. Reminiscence

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: The very first conversation of the chapter is between the real ghost Bianca and an Elder. It is all dialogue because I had trouble picture what 'the other side' looks like, and therefore I didn't want to describe it.

* * *

Chapter Fifty-Seven: Reminiscence

"I have to help him."

"It is too soon for him to see you. You've only been gone for such a short time."

"I don't care. Look at him!"

"I am sorry, but the other Elders and I…"

"Oh, whatever. You and your buddies can go to hell for all I care."

"We are trying to help him. If he sees you, he won't be able to move on."

"He isn't moving on now!"

"And he will have even less a chance of that if he thinks you will come to his rescue every time things get rough."

"How do you know that?"

"Because we see death and grieving every day. And we know that you can't help him until he is willing to help himself."

"He saved the _world_. He saved all of you. You _owe_ him."

"How many times do I have to tell you that we are trying to help him?"

"Until I believe you. Which, by the way, isn't actually going to happen any time soon."

"Fine. Don't believe me. But I… _we_… won't let you cross over yet."

"I hate you."

"I can live with that."

* * *

"How could he say something like that to her?" Phoebe wondered as she paced the attic floor. After Chris had orbed away, Prue had refused to speak to any of them, and had asked her father to take her home. She and Jason had driven away, and the other Halliwells had returned to the Manor. Shortly after that, Paige had taken her daughters and orbed back to their home. It was the first time she had set foot in the place since Kyle was killed, and she was determined to do it now, rather than wait. Leo had orbed to the Golden Gate Bridge to talk to Chris, who was seeking refuge on one of the towers, and that left Piper and Wyatt in the attic with Phoebe, discussing what had just happened. 

"He was hurt, grieving," Wyatt replied simply.

"That doesn't excuse what he said!" Phoebe hissed.

"I'm not saying it does," Wyatt replied, holding his hands up quickly in a show of surrender. "I'm just saying that he was grieving."

"And I don't think Bianca is helping him any," Piper muttered. Wyatt gave her a confused stare, and she elaborated, "I think he's seeing her. I think she's poisoning his thoughts, making it impossible for him to move on."

"You mean she's crossing over?" Phoebe asked, confused. "But how? And why?"

"Oh, it isn't actually her," Piper explained. "It's all in Chris' mind. He's imagining it, but she's real to him." She glanced at her younger sister. "You're the one with the psychology degree. What do you think of that theory?"

Phoebe mused on Piper's words for a moment, then nodded and said, "That sounds probable. If he blames himself for her death, consciously or subconsciously, he could be creating an phantom of her, an image that continues to haunt him. It would reflect what he really thinks and feels."

"Are you worried about his magic?" Wyatt asked, taking a few steps over to the sofa and sinking onto the cushions. "I mean, it is probably out of control right now because of his grieving, and who knows what it could actually do. You guys always tell me that story about how I brought a monster to life because of my nightmares."

"Yes, but Chris isn't as powerful as you are," Phoebe pointed out. "Even with his magic out of control, I don't think he would be able to do anything like brining this Bianca-phantom to life."

"So she's going to torment him mentally but not physically?" Piper asked. "Well, that makes me feel better." Her words were laced with sarcasm.

"I think he's been tormented physically enough," Wyatt murmured, his mind traveling to darker thoughts.

"That wasn't you," Piper said sharply. "We all know that wasn't you, that was Gideon turning you. Nobody blames you for it."

"Chris does," Wyatt replied with a shake of his head. "I know he said he doesn't, but he must. If he blames Prue for her past life…"

"I just can't believe that he would say something like that to her," Phoebe repeated her earlier comment.

"How do we help him?" Wyatt wanted to know, looking between his mother and aunt. "How do we help both of them?"

There was a silence as the three of them thought about this. The wind outside picked up, throwing leaves and dirt into the air and rattling the glass in the windows. The sound of Phoebe's footsteps on the attic floor echoed in the quiet room.

Nobody had any answers.

Finally, Piper said, "I'm not sure we can help them."

"What do you mean? We're their _family_," Wyatt pointed out, jumping to his feet and striding over to the Book of Shadows. He opened the cover and started flipping through the pages. "If we can't help them, who can?"

"Wy? What are you doing?" Piper asked, her forehead wrinkling in concern.

"I'm looking for a way to keep this Bianca-ghost from haunting Chris," Wyatt replied, as though the answer were obvious.

"I don't think magic is the answer," Phoebe said gently, placing a hand on the open page of the Book and preventing Wyatt from continuing his search. "These are inner demons, not outer ones. Magic can't solve everything."

"But we have to help him," Wyatt protested. At Phoebe's look, he amended, "I mean them. We have to help them."

"How? What can we say to Chris that is going to make Bianca's death easier for him to accept? What can we say to Prue that will make what she did not have happened?" Piper asked, joining her sister and son by the Book.

"We can't not do anything!" Wyatt spat.

"Wyatt, don't you think I want to help them also?" Piper demanded, tears in her eyes. "He's my _son_ and she's my niece." She paused for a moment, her gaze switching to Phoebe and whispered, "I don't want to be helpless. But I think Chris might be right about this; they _are_ going to have to catch themselves." Both Phoebe and Wyatt started to protest this, but Piper rushed on, "We can be there for them, supporting them, watching out for them; but in the end, they are the ones who are going to have to make the first step towards moving past all this. We can't force them to get better."

"I hate this!" Wyatt snapped. "I hate being so helpless."

Piper closed her eyes for a moment and thought of all the mistakes she had made trying to protect Chris. Keeping him away from magic when she knew it was in his blood. Lying about his past self, pretending he didn't die and was simply reincarnated. Hating Bianca.

Then she remembered what Leo had implied to her before the battle about magic and the Charmed future. He had informed her that Prue, Pen, and Mel didn't want to be Charmed, and this would be problematic for the future.

It looked like he was right, at least for Prue.

"I know," she whispered, her words choked. "I know. But I just… I don't know what we can do besides be there for them and… just… make sure they know that we love them."

Phoebe was about to say something when Wyatt suddenly stiffened and looked at the ceiling. "Prue!" he said abruptly. "She's calling. Something's wrong." And he seized Piper and Phoebe's hands and orbed away.

* * *

Paige picked up the athame that was sitting on the kitchen table and looked at it for a moment. How many arguments had they had over leaving weapons about? Kyle always claiming that they needed to have a few good weapons easily accessibly since they didn't have particularly offensive powers, and Paige always remembering Mel teething on the sharp metal of the knife that Kyle had carelessly left on the table when the twins were younger. 

She walked into the kitchen and automatically filled the kettle up with water, placing it on the stove. Kyle used to make fun of the fact that she and her sisters always acted as though a cup of tea could help solve all the problems in the world.

The thought of Kyle's laughing comments made her stomach twist, and she wondered if she would ever drink tea again.

She removed the kettle from the stove and walked out of the kitchen. In the living room, Mel was sitting on the sofa, staring blankly at the lamp on the side table. It was an ugly lamp, all hard angles and wrong colors, but Kyle had insisted on adding it to the room's décor. Paige had reluctantly agreed, but Pen and Mel had protested it for weeks.

Pen was standing behind the sofa, leaning against the wall and flipping through a magazine that had been on the coffee table. It was a National Geographic, the cover story about the endangered orca whale. Kyle had loved National Geographic.

Paige rested her hand on the doorframe of the kitchen and stared at her two daughters. Although they looked a lot a like, Mel had inherited her father's facial expressions, and Pen had not. When Mel looked up at Paige and offered a small smile, the Charmed One swore that she could see Kyle in her daughter's expression.

"You have your father's smile," Paige murmured quietly.

Mel's smile faltered. "Oh…"

Pen walked over to the coffee table and dropped the National Geographic onto it. "You do," she agreed in a barely audible voice. "You and Dad both smile the same." She took a seat next to Mel and gave her sister a bittersweet smile.

"Yeah," Mel replied with a sudden grin, "and you inherited Dad's awful sense of direction. It's a miracle you can orb anywhere without getting lost and ending up in South Africa."

Paige laughed, but the laughter sounded strange and out of place in the silent room. She sobered up almost immediately and joined her daughter's on the sofa.

"Dad would be so mad at us if he could see how miserable we are now," Mel said abruptly. "He would have wanted you to laugh, Mom."

"True," Paige conceded, but she still couldn't bring herself to stop grieving. It was too hard to move on right now, and she needed the chanced to mourn.

"He's still here, you know," Pen whispered. "He's still watching us. Maybe some day… maybe some day we'll be able to see his ghost."

"Maybe," Paige agreed. She thought about Prue, the other Prue, and drew a shaky breath. Almost three decades later, and they still weren't allowed to see her ghost. How long would they have to wait until the Elders determined that they were ready to see Kyle?

The three witch-lighter's abruptly stiffened, each hearing a cry for help.

"Stay here," Paige ordered, orbing away, following her niece's cry to Jason's house.

Mel stared at the spot her mother had been sitting a moment before, then stood up and walked over towards the hallway.

"Mel!" Pen was on her feet in a heartbeat, fear causing her face to suffuse with color. "Mom said to stay here." She reached out and grabbed Mel's hand, stopping her twin in her tracks.

Mel arm her hand out of Pen's grip and snapped, "I am staying here. I'm just going to get a glass of water." She rolled her eyes at Pen, as though Pen's fears had been unfounded.

Pen bristled, "Fine! I was just worried, alright? It isn't like you haven't orbed away before."

"I thought I was doing the right thing," Mel hissed, placing her hands on her hips. "I thought… look, I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry I worried you so much, Pen. I didn't mean to. I was just trying to help."

Pen felt her anger at Mel deflate. She had never been able to stay mad at her sister for long. But she was insightful enough to know that something had happened to Mel during the fight… or maybe right after the fight, and she wanted to know what it was.

"What happened?"

"What do you mean?" Mel asked, plastering an innocent look to her face. She knew exactly what Pen was asking, actually she was surprised that it had taken Pen this long to start prying. They were twins, they had never been able to keep secrets from each other.

"Don't give me that," Pen said sternly, shaking her head. "I know that something happened. I know you are upset about something, And don't tell me has to do with Chris or Prue or Wyatt or Mom and the aunts almost dying in the final battle. It's something else, I _know_ it is."

Mel looked away, her gaze landing on the hideous lamp again. Frowning slightly, she waved her hand and sent the lamp flying through the air. Pen reacted quickly, flicking her wrists and freezing the lamp in mid air.

"What are you doing?" Pen demanded angrily. "That belonged to Dad!"

"It's ugly," Mel retorted. "And you and Mom agree with me on that."

"But it belonged to Dad!" Pen repeated. She hurried over to the lamp and snatched it out of the air, carefully replacing it on the table. "We can't get rid of it."

"It won't bring him back. He's dead, we might as well get rid of his stuff," Mel said pointedly, and Pen suddenly froze, her hands extended over the lamp. After a moment, she stepped back and looked at Mel, confusion and fear in her eyes.

"What happened to you?" Pen demanded. "First you orb away from me, then you yell at Chris at the funeral, now you're acting like nothing of Dad's means anything anymore."

"Nothing happened!"

"Mel!"

"_Nothing_!"

"…liar."

"I almost got Mom killed," Mel snapped finally. "I almost got her _killed_. I'm always going to be a _liability_ to her and to Aunt Piper and Aunt Phoebe. I'm never… we're _never_ going to be anything more than that!"

"Mel…"

"But that's what you wanted, _right_? That's what you _wanted_ because you're afraid of being Charmed. Of having _power_. Well, you'll probably get your wish, because Prue's _certainly_ not going to like her power any more and I can't do _anything_, so…" Mel broke off, her flushed face streaked with tears, and spun on her heel, disappearing into the kitchen.

Pen stood, frozen to the spot, as the sound of the sink running met her ears. A moment later, Mel appeared in the doorway, a glass of water in her hand, and gave Pen a brief look. Then she walked down the hallway, turning into her bedroom.

Pen hesitated, unsure of what to do, then followed her sister down the hallway and into the bedroom. Mel was sitting on the bed, her knees pulled into her chest, a glass of water in one hand. She was staring at a picture on her desk, one that showed the entire family. Kyle was holding Mel in his arms, and Paige was attempting to wrestle Pen into an incredibly ugly pink and green sweater with yellow ducks on the front. The twins could not have been more than four or five.

"You know, Dad had really bad taste," Pen murmured, slipping onto the bed next to Mel and staring at the photograph. "He's the one who bought you that sweater."

Mel didn't reply, just stared blankly ahead.

"And remember that dress he bought you? It was magenta, and had those big bows on it. It was hideous." Pen glanced at Mel, who refused to meet her eyes, and continued, "But I wore the sweater, and you wore the dress, and Mom kept the lamp, because it made Dad so happy."

"I miss him…" Mel whispered.

"Me, too," Pen replied with feeling.

"If Mom… if Mom died, I wouldn't… I wouldn't be able to deal with it," Mel muttered.

"Me, neither," Pen agreed with a slow nod. There was a heavy silence, then Pen continued, "You're right, you know. I am scared of power. Of being Charmed. I'm scared of everything it costs us, everything we have to sacrifice. I'm scared of loss, and death, and grief."

Mel twisted to look at her sister and said, "That's the thing. I've always been afraid of those, but I thought magic could help us _prevent_ them. I never thought of magic as the cause."

"Well, I think the truth is that it is a little bit of both," Pen said thoughtfully. "It protects us and puts us in danger at the same time."

"You sound old and wise," Mel commented with a tiny grin.

Pen giggled and pointed out, "After more than a decade of being part of this family, I think we are all old and wise."

"No. I just feel old," Mel countered.

"Look," Pen said at last, "Mom and the aunts were in their late twenties when they received their powers. We're not even half that age. No one can expect us to fill the Charmed Ones' shoes yet. We've still got some time."

"I've been thinking about telling Mom that I'm not going to any vanquishes yet," Mel said softly. "We can train and advance our magical knowledge, but I just… no more vanquishes until we are older. That way Mom won't worry about us."

"Mom is always going to worry about us," Pen retorted. "We could be fifty and she would worry about us."

"Then what do we do? How do we fix this?" Mel wanted to know.

Pen shrugged. "It doesn't have an answer, Mel. We're always going to be in danger, Mom is always going to worry about us. We just… we've got to take it one step at a time." She ran a hand through her hair, another thought occurring to her. "Maybe the problem is also that we're trying to be the Charmed Ones the way Mom and the aunts are. Maybe we have to stop trying to be them, and start trying to be us."

Mel slanted her sister a look. "If you start spouting platitudes, I'm leaving," she said dryly.

"Well," Pen considered, "we are part white-lighter. Maybe platitudes are in our blood." She shrugged slightly, and Mel smiled in amusement.

Mel leaned back, stretching her arms and legs. Her muscles were still sore from the battle, and she was physically and mentally exhausted. "I wonder what it would be like to not be from this family. To be a normal kid who doesn't worry about death and demons and the world ending."

"Might be nice," Pen mused. Then she flashed Mel a grin and said, "But if then you wouldn't get to have me as a sister."

Mel laughed. "Yeah, that's true." She lapsed into silence for a moment, her eyes drifting back to the photo on her desk. She licked her dry lips and said, "So, one step at a time, huh?"

"Yes," Pen said firmly. "One step at a time." She stood up and walked to the door of the room, then paused and looked back at Mel. "And remember, whatever happens, you'll always have me."

Mel swallowed back the lump in her throat and nodded. "Thanks," she managed to mutter, then looked away as the tears burned at her eyes. She reflected to herself that it was more comfort than she had realized to know that her sister would still be there, no matter what.

* * *

"Chris…" 

"Go away, Dad."

"I know that you are hurting right now, but what you said to Prue…"

"Stop defending her!"

"She's not completely to blame for what happened."

"Go away, Dad."

"Chris…"

Chris turned away from his father and stared at the city that stretched out miles below him. The air was cold, the wind strong, and he shivered slightly, realizing he wasn't wearing enough to stay warm in this weather.

_He doesn't understand anything. How could he? He didn't see that other world. And the other version of him never even saw what you were going through because he was too busy being _Wyatt's_ father. _

She took a seat next to him on the tower, the wind buffeting her long hair. She gave him a smile, cold and icy, but it was still a comfort for to see her there. He wanted to hold on to her for as long as possible.

"Go away, Dad," Chris said one last time, closing his eyes and wishing his father would just leave him alone.

"I can't leave, Chris. I can't leave you when you are hurting like this," Leo protested, watching the emotions flickering across his son's face.

_Why not? He's done it before. _

"Why not? You're good at that," Chris murmured.

Leo flinched and jerked backwards as though he had been slapped.

Leo and Chris both froze at the sound of Prue's frantic cries drifting towards them. Something was wrong, she was calling for everyone. Leo reached out for his son's hand, intent on orbing them both to Prue, but Chris just looked at him coldly.

Leo hesitated, not sure of what to do, but Prue's cries were becoming more desperate. Knowing he didn't have much of choice, he orbed away, leaving Chris alone on the Bridge.

_And again the only part of him you see are his orbs. _

Chris glanced at the phantom next to him and nodded in the painful silence.

* * *

Prue shoved her father to the ground as the fireball flew past her head and started screaming for her family. They had only been back at her father's house for about fifteen minutes before the demons had shimmered in and started attacking. A hot anger rose within her as she recognized a pair of sparkling red eyes laughing at her from across. 

Sarina.

However, before she had a chance to do anything, the air was filled with orbs. Before Piper and Phoebe had even fully materialized, Piper was already blowing up demons and Phoebe was levitating in the air to avoid a attack.

Wyatt shoved his way through the other demons towards Sarina, summoning Excalibur as he did. Behind him, a swirl of orbs formed into Paige, who began redirecting fireballs back towards the demons. Leo appeared after that, electricity crackling at his finger tips.

Somehow in all the chaos Jason had managed to crawl to his hands and knees and was kneeling next to Prue, one hand on her arm as he tried to figure out what to do.

"Aunt Paige! Get my Dad out of here," Prue called over her shoulder.

Paige barely stopped to look over in their direction. She waved her hand at Jason, and the mortal was orbed away to safety.

Sarina conjured her own sword as Wyatt tried to attack her, and blocked his blows. Wyatt moved quickly, keeping his temper under control. She had beat him once because he had let her manipulate his anger. He wasn't going to make that mistake again.

However, Wyatt soon noticed that Sarina was barely paying him attention. She blocked or shimmered away from most of his blows, and rarely attacked with her own. Why? He couldn't figure out what she was doing unless…

Unless she was stalling for time…

But why?

Glancing quickly over his shoulder, he saw something that made his blood run cold.

Jhorun was standing over Prue, who was crouched on the ground, one hand pressed to her shoulder, trying to stop the blood flowing from a thin wound that had neatly sliced through her shirt. In one hand, Jhorun held an athame, and in the other…

Green energy.

Memories crashed through Wyatt's mind of Prue, lying on the floor of the attic, her body twisting and turning as she was caught in her nightmares. He remembered the anger he had felt at the sight of her, so helpless. And he remembered how close she had come to death.

Panic washed through him in a wave and he screamed out in terror.

"PRUE!"

* * *

On the tower of the Golden Gate Bridge, Chris suddenly heard his brother screaming Prue's name, and did the first thing that came to mind. He concentrated on Prue, and orbed.

* * *

Next Chapter: Tomorrow's Another Day

Due: Fri 9/1


	59. Tomorrow's Another Day

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: Alright, folks we're coming to the end of the story. There will be one more chapter after this, and then an epilogue.

* * *

Chapter Fifty-Eight: Tomorrow's Another Day

_And you probably don't want to hear tomorrow's another day  
Well I promise you you'll see the sun again.  
And you're asking me why pain's the only way to happiness  
And I promise you you'll see the sun again._

_-Dido "See the Sun"_

The green light flashed by Prue's head as blue and white orbs coalesced into someone who pushed her to the ground. As she crashed into the floor, she looked up to see Chris rolling away from her and shoving himself to his knees. He flung out his hand, knocking Jhorun off his feet, and turning in time to call out a warning to Wyatt.

"Wy! Behind you!"

Wyatt spun around and lifted Excalibur in time to block Sarina's attack. He brought his sword whistling through the air towards her, and she jumped back. He attacked again, and again, and each time she side-stepped him or parried, and then brought her own sword towards him in a counterattack. He was oblivious to the battles around him, focusing only on the High Priestess of the Khail.

In one brief moment, he suddenly found he had the upperhand. Sarina had stumbled, unable to stay standing from the force of one of his blows, and lowered her sword enough to catch her balance. Seizing his opportunity, he swung his sword forward, the steel blade aimed at her heart.

"NO!"

It happened in a blur, and Wyatt stopped, stunned. A demon had come out of nowhere and thrown himself forward, tackling Sarina to the ground and out of harm's way. Excalibur had nicked his side, causing a dark red stain to spread out onto his tunic, but he look relieved. Pleased even, as he turned and assured himself that Sarina was unharmed.

The room stood still. All eyes were focused on this injured demon. The Halliwells did not understand, could not understand, because when had a demon ever risked his life to save someone else? That was a mortal thing to do, a Good thing to do. Evil was not supposed to care about others.

Sarina looked up at Wyatt, then placed her hand on her injured clan member, and shimmered from the room, taking the demon with her. The other Khail quickly followed, disappearing as abruptly as they had appeared.

"That was… unexpected," Piper said at last, glancing around the room to take stalk of the others. Assuring herself that none of her family was in any immediate danger, she continued, "I guess we have to start focusing on the next problem."

"Why don't we get a break?" Phoebe complained, rubbing the back of her neck. "We just saved the world."

Prue looked up at Chris with wide eyes. He was standing over her, not meeting her gaze. Instead, he was staring at the spot where Jhorun had stood only moments before.

"Chris…?" she ventured hesitantly. Chris turned and looked at her, his eyes dark and foreboding. She swallowed nervously, and whispered, "Thanks."

"It was instinct," Chris replied coolly, unwilling to let her think he had actually meant to save her life.

"Oh…" Prue looked away for a moment, then asked diffidently, "Do you really want me to die?"

All eyes focused on Chris, waiting for his reply. Phoebe wanted to intercede and tell Prue not be ridiculous, of course he didn't want her to die. Piper wanted to yell at Chris for his cold comment and to force him to tell Prue that he loved her, regardless. Wyatt wanted to ask if his brother hated him as well because Prue wasn't the only one who had done horrible things in a past life. But all three of them knew that this was a conversation for Prue and Chris, and that they shouldn't interfere.

Leo, however, seemed to be the only one that understood that perhaps this was a conversation Chris and Prue should have in private, so he waved his hand and orbed his entire family out of the room.

"Do you hate me?" Prue repeated, her voice a little stronger now that the others were gone. "Do you want me dead?"

"Yes," Chris snapped. He took a breath and switched answers. "No." After another moment, he changed the answer yet again and said in frustration, "I don't know!"

_She was happy I was dead._

The phantom was sitting on the sofa, twirling a strand of silky brown hair through her fingers. She was smiling at him, a twisted smile, and Chris turned to face her, listening to her twisted words.

_She knew that we were in love, she knew how much my death would hurt you, and she was happy._

"How could you be happy about her death?" Chris demanded, his voice laced with pure venom. "How?"

"I thought she was a threat," Prue replied calmly. "I thought all the Phoenixes were threats."

"How could you ever think that about the woman I was in love with?" Chris spat from between clenched teeth.

"Um… remember Cole?" Prue asked sarcastically, rolling her pretty eyes. They had heard the story of her mother's first husband enough times that it was practically engrained in their minds… love doesn't always conquer everything.

Chris flushed and said, "That was different."

"I know. But, at the time, it didn't seem that different," Prue replied with a shrug.

"You seem very cavalier about this," Chris remarked suspiciously. At the funeral, she had been in tears as he turned his wrath to her. Now she seemed so at peace with the fact that her cousin may hate her and wish her dead.

"I don't… I'm not… I didn't mean…" It was Prue's turn to flush, and her words were flustered and hesitant. "I don't want you to hate me. You're my cousin. I love you."

_She had a funny way of showing it._

"No kidding," Chris muttered under his breath, glancing over at the spot where the phantom was sitting.

"What?" Prue asked, confused, trying to figure out who Chris was talking to.

"You say you love me and yet you're _happy_ that she's dead," Chris sneered, his tone mocking.

"I'm not happy now," Prue snapped, irritation showing through. She had hoped that by being reasonable and unemotional he might actually talk to her, but Chris appeared to be to busy condemning her to want to discuss their problems.

"Really?" Chris asked skeptically. "And why should I believed that?"

"Because I'm your cousin!" Prue spat.

_Yes, and she has shown that family means so much to her._ The comment was dripping with sarcasm.

"Yeah, just like you were when you handed me over to Wyatt," Chris shot back.

"Chris, that wasn't me…" Prue tried to defend herself weakly.

"Look around you, Prue! You just got attacked. Not our mothers and aunts, not Wyatt or me. _You_. Why do you think that is?"

"What are you talking about?" Prue demanded.

"They attacked you because you are an easy target," Chris explained angrily. "Because you let your powers control you. They knew that, that's why you were the one they targeted before as well. That's how the green light works, Prue. It can't make you live through your fears and nightmares unless they are strong enough to take hold!" He stopped long enough to catch his breath before continuing, "In this timeline, or in another, your inability to deal with your power and your fears will get us all killed!"

"So you've really given up on the idea of helping me?" Prue asked in frustration.

_You can't help her if she won't help herself._

"How can I? You won't do anything to help yourself! You won't even take responsibility for your own actions," Chris spat.

"That's not true!" Prue retorted heatedly.

"Then admit to handing me over to Wyatt," Chris spat. "Admit to the fact that that was you, even if it was a different version of you."

There was a dead silence in the room.

Prue swallowed and nodded. "Fine," she said at last. "That was me. I handed you over to Wyatt." And quite abruptly, she launched a blast of wind straight at Chris.

Chris reacted just in time, throwing himself sideways and out of the path of the attack. He jumped to his feet and telekinetically slammed Prue into the wall. She crumpled to the ground, groaning slightly in pain.

She flashed a smirk and said, "Guess family doesn't really matter any more, does it?"

Chris threw the nearest object at her. It turned out to be a lamp, which shattered into a million tiny pieces as Prue ducked out of the way. Chris took a few steps until he was right in front of her, and drew back his fist. He let the blow fly, and his hand connected with her cheek.

She winced, and shoved him away from her, but he slapped her hard across the face. She was already in pain from smashing into the wall, and the second blow to her face caused her to stumble slightly, her knees buckling. She tasted blood in her mouth and realized she had bit her tongue.

Lifting one hand, she fended off Chris' attack with a wave of her hand, another blast of wind throwing him away from her. Chris hit the back of the safe and fell to the ground.

"No, wait, you're right," Prue said cruelly, pulling herself to her feet, "I am still happy that Bianca's dead."

Chris saw red. Every last bit of sanity within him, everything that screamed at him that this was his cousin, his family, vaporized as he heard her words.

_Make her hurt. Make her feel what you're feeling._

Everything else was a blur to Chris. He felt hatred and deep-rooted pain, he heard the apparition words, and the next thing he knew, he was standing over Prue. She was bleeding from a cut on her shoulder where she had crashed into the table, and her face was bruised. Her brown eyes were wide in surprise, and he thought vaguely that perhaps it was surprise at how vicious he could be when riled.

And then a hot sickness coursed through him as he realized what he had done.

Prue pushed him away and stood up, looking around the room. Two lamps were broken, and a few chairs had been cracked, but she wasn't sure if it was from her fight with Chris, or from the fight with the Khail.

"Do you feel better?" Prue demanded.

Chris turned confused eyes to her. "Wh-what?"

"Do you feel better?" Prue repeated. "You beat me up. You got to believe that I was a horrible, cruel, lying traitor. You got to scream and yell and destroy. Do you feel _better_?"

"I… I…" Chris was at a loss for words, and for once, the phantom was not there to tell him what to say. He looked around the room, feeling hurt and lost without her.

"I am sorry. I don't know how long I am going to have to say this until you listen to me, but I am sorry, and I will continue to tell you that until you hear me," Prue said firmly, tears suddenly filling her eyes and spilling through her lashes. "What I did, what I believed, was wrong. And it was entirely my fault, I know that." She stopped, taking a moment to catch her breath and control the sobs threatening to burst forth. "I won't blame the Seer, like everyone else does, because I acted on my own accord. And I don't know how it is ever going to get better. But I am not happy that Bianca is dead anymore. And I am sorry."

Chris stared at her, realizing suddenly that she had _wanted_ him to attack her. She hadn't actually meant any of those thing she had said during the fight, she had just been trying to goad him on. Did she think this would fix things? That he would suddenly be okay with what she had said and done? Or had she been trying to show him something else?

"I can't… I can't forgive you," Chris replied finally. Prue looked down, the expression on her face so heartbroken, but also resigned, and Chris continued, "Maybe… maybe eventually. But not right now… I just… everything's too… too much."

Prue nodded. "Okay," she said slowly. "I can wait."

Chris looked around the room once again and shook his head. "She's gone," he muttered to himself, angry and scared. The ghost was gone, and he couldn't feel her presence anymore. It was as though she had left him completely, and he wanted her back.

"Who?" Prue questioned, confused.

Chris didn't answer, he just continued murmuring, "She's gone," as though he thought perhaps this would bring her back.

Prue reached out and touched Chris' arm with her fingertips. "You never answered my question," she said gently. "Do you feel better?"

Chris shook his head, uncomprehending. Why was Prue asking this, and where was the phantom? Somehow, he felt that those two questions were linked, and if he could answer one, he would be able to answer the other.

He jerked his arm away from her and ran a hand through his hair.

Did he feel better?

No. No, he didn't. He was angry at her, but yelling and hitting her hadn't made that better. He didn't feel anything but pain… it was so… everything was just… He couldn't even put into words. He just _hurt_.

And he was so tired. So tired of everything, he wished it would just stop, would just…

If the phantom was here, she would provide the answers.

But as soon as he thought that, he wondered if that was true. She had provided answers, but where had those answers lead? To a fight with his younger cousin.

And he didn't feel better.

Bianca, the real Bianca, would never have left him when he needed her. She would never have done this to him, would never have made him so confused, so lost, so…

But even if this phantom wasn't her, it still… it still looked and talked and felt like her.

But he didn't think he could do this without her. He needed her, he loved her, he… He couldn't do this alone.

He looked at Prue, but his eyes slid right through her as his mind lingered on far away thoughts, and he orbed out.

Prue stared at the spot that she had stood and hoped that perhaps she had done some good. At the very least, she thought she may have proven her point, that holding onto this rage was not helping him.

She looked down at the bruised and battered body, and groaned. "Uncle Leo?" she called, knowing she was going to need to be healed.

As Leo materialized in the room and raised an eyebrow at her injuries, she thought back to her conversations with Chris, both now and at the funeral. He had said many hurtful things, but then, she had done many hurtful things. One thing, however, she was fairly certain he had been right about. The rest of her family might be there to save her, but they would never be able to do anything if she didn't take the first step on her own.

She had to catch herself before she fell out of their reach.

Leo extended his hands over her body, and a warm healing glow spread out from his fingers. Prue stared at it for a moment, coming to a decision.

"Uncle Leo? I need your help…"

* * *

Piper and Wyatt flipped through the Book of Shadows. Phoebe had retrieved Jason from Magic School, where Paige had orbed him during the battle, and had offered to drive him home. Afterwards, they were going to finish the particulars of the divorce and make plans to meet with their lawyer. Leo had been called by Prue, and Paige had orbed back to tell Pen and Mel that everything was alright.

That left Piper and Wyatt alone to look through the Book of Shadows and strategize for dealing with the Khail.

"How much of a threat do you think they are going to be?" Wyatt asked, glancing up at his mother.

"Well, if their plan really is to organize the Underworld, they are going to be worse than the Source," Piper replied. "But I think also… they're going to be different."

"How so?" Wyatt questioned, stepping away from the Book. There would be nothing in there to help them, he knew that. Mostly he had simply been looking through the pages to pass the time, and to be able to do something with his hands.

"Well…" Piper pursed her lips, thinking. "When Chris was talking to Sarina, trying to keep her from killing you, he said that she… that they cared about each other. Actually _cared_. And that demon risked his life to save Sarina. You don't see that very often."

Wyatt frowned and said suddenly, "You know, it is kind of as though we are fighting the evil version of ourselves." The similarities were obvious. Powerful, cared about each other to the extreme, worked as a unit…

Piper nodded. "I guess it is. Anyway, if I had to predict anything, I'd say we are going to be fighting the Khail for the rest of our lives. And the battle will continue through the generations. They don't seem to be the type of clan that gives up or fades away."

"That's depressing," Wyatt groaned.

Piper shook her head. "No, it isn't. If I've learned everything from the past two decades, and from this fight with the Source, it is that there will always be evil in the world. The Source may have another chance to end the world soon. The Khail will probably be a threat for a very long time. More demons will always come, no matter how many we vanquish. Our job isn't to defeat evil, it's to make sure that evil doesn't defeat us."

* * *

Chris walked over to the grave and knelt in front of it, staring at the smooth stone slab, at the words engraved onto it. He closed his eyes, picturing her face staring back at him. For a moment, it was as though he could feel her presence standing in front of him, smiling at him gently.

But when he opened his eyes, there was nothing in front of him save for the grave.

"I wondered how long it would be before you showed up," a cold voice said, and Chris spun around in surprise to see Lynn standing behind him, holding a small bouquet of flowers.

"It's only been a few hours since the fu-funeral," Chris pointed out, stumbling over the word funeral as he stood up.

"I know. But I figured you would want to come here on your own." She stepped past him and placed the flowers next to the grave, then straightened up and closed her eyes briefly, blinking away the tears.

The two of then stood in silence.

"Why haven't you tried to kill me yet?" Chris asked at last, the non-sequitur question coming abruptly. Lynn gave him a confused look, and he continued, "You said once that if I hurt Bianca, you would make me suffer."

Lynn met his eyes, and Chris could see the unshed tears she wouldn't let fall. At last she said slowly, "I'm guessing you are suffering quite a bit without my help. I don't need to do anything."

Chris gave a bitter chuckle and said numbly, "Yeah, I guess I am."

"But this isn't what she'd want," Lynn said. "Bianca would never have wanted you to feel like this."

Chris started at the comment, confused.

"I'm never going to forgive you for this," Lynn said. "I can't. But even though I haven't forgiven you, I don't hate you." She paused, choosing her words carefully, before proceeding, "I want to. I think it would be easier for me if I did. But I know that Bianca loved you, and I know for those two years, you made her happy. And I can't hate you because of that."

"Thank you," Chris said, realizing how much it meant to him that Lynn did not hate him despite everything that had happened. He hesitated, then ventured to tell Lynn, "I see her. She talks to me… Well, it isn't really her, but I… I can't let go."

"What you are seeing isn't her," Lynn said firmly. "I know, because I saw it also. It's just… our imagination trying to hold on to someone we love."

"I know, but I don't want to let go," Chris argued, sounding suddenly like a petulant child. "I want her, even if it isn't her. I can't do this by myself, and having her there is…"

"Easier?" Lynn suggested. Chris nodded dumbly, and Lynn gave a hollow laugh. "She sacrificed her life for you. You don't deserve to take the easy way out."

Chris looked at her sharply. "I thought you didn't hate me?"

"I don't," Lynn argued, her words harsh. "But I can't stand here and let you wallow in self-pity while my daughter is dead. Yes, you are going through a lot. Yes, it is painful and it is hard. Deal with it."

"I'm trying, but I don't know how," Chris snapped in frustration.

Lynn shrugged. "Nobody can help you until you help yourself." She took a step away from him, then said, "Although I won't try to kill you, we also have no reason to stay around each other. Bianca's dead, and I… I never want to see you again. Understand?" And without waiting for a reply, she shimmered away in a ripple of air.

* * *

Next Chapter: Out of Ashes

Due: Tue 9/5


	60. Out of Ashes

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: Last chapter before the epilogue! I can't believe this is actually so close to being over, I feel like I've been working on it forever. I hope it was as enjoyable for everyone to read as it was for me to write.

* * *

Chapter Fifty-Nine: Out of Ashes

Prue sat on the chair in the sunroom of the manor, staring at the glass in front of her. The potion in it was a deep blue-green that shimmered iridescent in the early morning light. Her mother had moved back into the manor until she could find a house of her own, and Prue had decided to stay there with her. It had taken a lot of thinking, but Prue had finally come to the conclusion that, while she wanted to see her father as much as possible, it would be safer for everyone involved if she lived with her mother. The Khail attack had proven that.

Although Jason had been reluctant to accept Prue's decision, he had seen the logic in the end, and given in when she assured him that she had no intention of doing anything to prevent him from being an important part of her life.

It had been two days since the attack and her fight with Chris, and her cousin still wasn't talking to her. She knew it would take him time to move past everything that had happened, and she understood that, but it hurt to wait for him. He had become less virulent towards her, and was even sometimes pleasant, and she knew he was making an effort, so she was willing to wait.

She turned her attention away from thoughts about Chris, and back at the potion in her hands. It had taken a long time to find the right potion, even with Leo's help. It had taken her a while to convince her mother that this really was for the best, and then she had been forced to talk to Mel and Pen about it as well, since it would affect them when they all inherited the Power of Three.

She wondered what it would feel like after she drank the potion. Would she notice the change? Would she feel empty, like something was missing? Or would she feel relieved?

"What is that?"

She started at the voice, and glanced over her shoulder to see Chris coming down the stairs. He was staring at the potion in her hand, confusion etched over his features.

"It's a potion," Prue replied dryly.

Chris glared at her and snapped, "I know! I meant…" He stopped abruptly and shook his head. "Never mind," he grumbled, turning to leave her alone.

"It is a power-stripping potion."

Prue's explanation stopped Chris in his tracks, and he turned to look at her with an incredulous expression on his face. "What?"

"Only to strip my elementals," Prue continued, looking back down at the potion. "It took a while to find a potion recipe that would only strip the elementals, and not the power of premonition."

"Why?"

She didn't look up at Chris, didn't acknowledge the question. For a moment, there was nothing but silence in the room, then she murmured softly, "I needed to keep the power of premonition, or else I would break the Power of Three, and I couldn't do that to Mel and Pen. Or to the world. They'll need up one day."

Chris stared at her, then took a step into the room. There were a million questions running through his mind, but he couldn't put them into words.

"Power corrupts," Prue continued. "The more power you have, the harder it is to control. And I don't want my power to control me. Without my elementals, I have a fighting chance at being the person I want to be, and not the person I'm afraid of becoming."

"Does everyone else know?" Chris asked at last.

"Uncle Leo and Aunt Piper, Mom, Mel and Pen. And I think Mom might have told Aunt Paige," Prue replied.

"As usual, I'm the last to know," Chris muttered to himself.

"Actually," Prue replied matter-of-factly, glancing up at Chris, "Wyatt is the last to know. And my Dad."

Chris rolled his eyes but said nothing.

Prue took a sip of the potion and grimaced. "Wow, that is horrible," she commented, pulling a disgusted face. "It's too bad I have to drink the entire glass."

Chris turned to leave, walking through the dining room to the kitchen. At the door to the kitchen, though, he stopped, and turned back to Prue. "Peppermint," he called.

"What?" Prue looked at him in confusion.

Chris swallowed and continued, "Add peppermint to the potion. It disguises the taste, but won't change the composition of the potion," he explained, then turned and was gone, the door swinging shut behind him.

Prue stared at the closed door for a moment, then hesitantly smiled.

* * *

"Close your eyes." 

"What?" Leo looked over at Piper in surprise.

"Close your eyes, Leo," Piper repeated impatiently.

Confused and intrigued, Leo closed his eyes and waited. He could hear the sound of Piper drawing close to him, then he felt her press something into his hands.

"Okay. You can look."

Leo opened his eyes and glanced down at the object in his hands, and his eyes widened in surprise. "What…? How did you…?"

He was holding a picture frame. The frame was made of dark brown wood, and had been polished so that it practically shone. In the frame was the picture that Prue had found all those weeks ago, the picture of the other Chris and baby Wyatt, playing with blocks on the floor.

"I framed it for you," Piper said with a smile. "So that you'd have something… _we'd_ have something to remember our other son by."

Leo blinked back a stray tear and smiled at Piper. "Thank you," he whispered.

"You were right," Piper said. "That Chris was different from the one we have now. I mean, they are the same person, just… different. Different versions. I never really grieved for him."

"He wouldn't have wanted you to," Leo said firmly. "He loved you. You were a wonderful mother, and he loved you so much, and he would never have wanted you to be sad."

"I wonder where he is," Piper said thoughtfully. "I mean, when he…died, did he really… I don't know. Since his soul is also in the other Chris, is he really… you know…can he actually be gone? Because… I don't know… it just seems so strange that there are two of them and yet… I just… I don't know."

Leo laughed at Piper's confused question and said, "I think that sort of thing is beyond the realm of our understanding."

"You know, I bet if he is somewhere, if he's watching… I bet he's happy," Piper murmured. "I bet he's pleased that everything turned out… well, not great, but better than the other timeline." She frowned, and gave Leo a searching look. "And I bet he's proud of you, of the father you became."

"I hope so," Leo said fervently. He looked down at the picture and sighed. "I really hope so."

"I love you, Leo," Piper whispered, kissing Leo.

"I love you too, Piper."

* * *

"What are you doing?" Wyatt asked as he walked into the kitchen. Chris was standing with his back to his brother, leaning over a mixing bowl and glancing at a recipe. The counter was covered with flour, eggs, sugar, salt, butter, and other cooking ingredients, as well as spices and a few casserole pans. 

"I'm cooking," Chris replied, shaking his head at Wyatt. He really would have thought what he was doing was obvious.

Wyatt rolled his eyes and walked over to Chris, taking a seat at the counter. "Need some help?" he offered.

"No, thanks though," Chris replied airily, "I'd like the meal to be edible."

"How are you doing?" Wyatt asked, ignoring Chris' insult to his cooking abilities. "Everything okay?"

Chris looked up from measuring out the flour and replied sarcastically, "Well, you know, for a while there it was touch and go with the sugar and the butter, and the salt kept talking back to me, but I think I've got everything under control."

Wyatt raised an eyebrow and retorted, "That's not what I meant."

"I'm fine," Chris said shortly, dumping the flour into the bowl and reaching for the spoon.

Wyatt pulled the spoon out of Chris' reach and shook his head. "Nope," he said. "You're not getting the spoon until you talk to me."

"Wy…"

"You aren't fine. You need to talk, you need to… do something," Wyatt argued. "You went from destroying your room to being moody and sullen and now you aren't doing anything! It isn't healthy."

Chris telekinetically yanked the spoon from Wyatt's grip and caught it as it flew through the air. Wyatt tried to orb it back to him, but Chris used his telekinesis to block Wyatt's power.

"Chris, I'm your brother. I'm allowed to worry," Wyatt said angrily. He walked around the counter and stepped in front of Chris, physically blocking the witch-lighter from accessing the cooking ingredients. "Come on, talk to me."

"I can't," Chris replied simply, folding his arms over his chest and glaring at Wyatt. Although Wyatt was both bigger, stronger, and more powerful than Chris, the fury and frustration in the younger brother's eyes managed to intimidate the Twice Blessed.

Wyatt took a step back and lifted his hands in a sign of surrender. "Why not?" he asked quietly.

"Why not what?" Piper asked, entering the kitchen, followed by Leo. She glanced from Chris' confrontational stance to Wyatt's surrendering pose, to the food spread out across the counter and continued, "Wy? Are you trying to convince your brother to let you help cooking? Because I've already told you this a thousand times, we are not eating anything you make. I'd prefer not to poison us all."

Wyatt turned to glower at his mother while Chris tried to smother a laugh. Piper, Leo, and Wyatt all jerked to look at him in surprise, it was the first time in a very long time that they had heard Chris laugh.

"What?" Chris asked, confused. "Why are you looking at me?"

"You laughed," Wyatt replied softly, a grin tugging at the corners of his lips.

Chris sobered immediately.

Wyatt sighed in frustration and asked again, "So why can't you talk to me?"

Chris turned back to the food and measured out a half-teaspoon of salt. "I just can't, Wyatt. Okay? Just drop it."

"I can't," Wyatt replied, walking over to Chris again. When Chris started to protest, he said quickly, "Chris, what if it were me? What if I had just lost my fiancée? Would you just let it go? Or would you try to talk to me, to make sure I was… dealing with everything."

"He's right, Chris," Leo said, speaking up for the first time. "You know he's right."

Chris stared at Wyatt for a moment, then put down the salt and said quietly, "I saw her for a while, but she's gone now."

"What?" Wyatt asked, completely befuddled by Chris cryptic comment.

"Bianca," Chris said, forcing the name from his lips. It hurt to say it, to hear the sound hanging in the empty air of the kitchen, and know that she would never be back. He pressed on quickly, not wanting to dwell on that loss. "I used to see her everywhere. She'd… she'd talk to me. But she's gone now. She left and I… I miss her."

"What you saw wasn't really her," Piper murmured, coming over to Chris and placing a hand on his shoulder.

Chris shook his head and blinked back tears. "I know that. I know because… she was cold. Cruel. Mean. She said all the things that I was thinking, all the dark thoughts that I never wanted to admit to having. She… she screwed everything up so much… But the thing is… even knowing that…I still miss her." He stumbled over his words and ran a hand over his eyes, wiping away a few stray saltwater droplets. "I still want her back, even if it is that cold version of her…"

Wyatt glanced quickly at his parents, silently asking them what he was supposed to do now. He had no idea how to finish the conversation, which, he reflected, was probably something that he should have thought about before starting it.

"Does it get better?" Chris whispered. "Does it hurt less? Does anything… does anything make it alright again?" He was looking at his mother, practically begging her to provide the answers they both knew she didn't have.

Piper hesitated, thinking about her older sister, about Shax, about all the pain that they had gone through.

"Yes and no," she said at last. "Time makes it hurt less, but nothing ever makes it alright again. Not when you love someone that much."

"Thanks," Chris murmured sarcastically. "_That_ makes me feel better."

"There are some parts of life that hurt a lot," Leo said, jumping into the conversation. "There are some parts that hurt so much you don't know how you can possibly move on. But the thing is, you do move on. Because for good or ill, this is the only life you've got, and you make what you can from it."

"Bianca wouldn't want you to feel like this. She wouldn't want you to waste you life wishing she was here," Wyatt said firmly, knowing it was true.

"She loved you so much, Chris," Piper agreed with a gentle smile. "She wouldn't want you to self-destruct."

"I know," Chris muttered.

"You can get through this. We can help you, we can be there for anything," Wyatt promised. "Whatever you have to do to work through the way you are feeling. If you have to scream or vanquish demons or break glass… if throwing eggs against the wall is what makes you feel better, then that's what you should do."

"Throwing eggs?" Chris considered this for a moment, a sly smile gracing his features. Then he nodded and suddenly flicked his wrist, lifting the entire carton of eggs off the table and sending it careening through the air.

Right at Wyatt's head.

Chris looked at Wyatt for a moment, watching as the yellow and white raw eggs dripped from his blonde hair and slid over his face and onto his clothes. He nodded and said seriously, "You know, Wy, that does make me feel better." Then he smiled, and without another word, he turned and left the kitchen, the echoes of his parents' laughter drifting after him.

* * *

"Piper, can you pass the lasagna?" Paige asked as she poured herself a glass of orange juice. Her oldest sister reached for the lasagna and carefully passed it along the length of the dining room table. 

"Chris, these rolls are delicious," Leo complimented as he bit into one of the wheat rolls Chris had made that afternoon.

"Yeah… easy for you to say, Dad," Wyatt snapped irritably, glaring at Chris. "You didn't end up with half the batter in your hair."

Piper and Paige laughed out right at that, and Chris defended himself, "It was just the eggs."

Pen bit into a carrot and said helpfully, "Besides, Wy, the eggs probably looked better in your hair than in any of ours because your blonde so it matches with the yellow of the yolk."

Wyatt threw a celery stick at Pen, but Mel redirected it back at Wyatt with her telekinesis.

"Hey, no fair, you're double-teaming me!" Wyatt exclained.

"Oh, is the great Twice Blessed afraid of two middle school girls?" Prue mocked. Wyatt glared at her, and Phoebe struggled to keep from laughing.

Chris looked down at the salad on his plate and felt the familiar welling of sadness inside of him. He clenched his hands into fists and murmured under his breath, "I can do this." Shoving away thoughts of Bianca, he focused on his family and tried his best to continue with the conversation.

Across the table, Piper saw Chris' inner turmoil and offered a supportive smile. He returned it gratefully and listened as Phoebe and Paige discussed Phoebe's advice column.

"A family dinner was a good idea, wasn't it?" Piper commented during a lull in the conversation, pleased with herself.

"Yes, it was," Leo hurried to agree.

"It's nice to know that despite everything we can still be a family," Prue agreed. She glanced hurriedly at Chris and amended, "Or, at least, try to be a family."

"We're always family, even if we hate each other," Mel announced, taking a sip of her water. "Some things never change."

"Demon!"

Wyatt was out of his chair and tackling Phoebe out of the direction of a fireball. The demon in question quickly conjured another fireball, but Piper blew him up with a casual flick of her hands. The entire family turned to see where the first fireball had gone, and Piper groaned as she noted that it had collided with the Grandfather clock.

"How many times are we going to have to get that thing fixed?" she bemoaned as she looked at the scorched wood.

"You're right, Mel," Wyatt said as he helped Phoebe to her feet. "Some things do never change."

"That wasn't what I had in mind," Mel retorted.

"Was it Khail?" Chris asked.

"I don't think so. So far they've attacked in groups, not just one," Paige mused.

"Leo, check with the Elders. Paige, take Phoebe and Prue to Magic School and see if anyone there has heard rumors about an attack. Wyatt, Chris, get the Book. Mel, Pen, start making some all-purpose vanquishing potions in case we have more company," Piper ordered quickly as the entire family fell back into their lifelong routine.

Paige took Phoebe and Prue by their hands and orbed away as Wyatt and Chris trudged up the stairs to the attic. Mel and Pen began discussing different potions ingredients as they headed towards the kitchen. Leo prepared to orb Up There, then stopped suddenly.

Piper gave him a confused look.

He shrugged at her and reached for another wheat roll. She raised her eyebrows at him and he replied defensively, "What? They're good rolls!"

Piper glared at his disappearing orbs, then followed her sons up the stairs to the attic. She paused on the second floor landing and glanced back at the burnt grandfather clock.

This was their life, come what may, and Leo had been right, it was the only life they would get. But if they could stick together, if they could always remember that they were a family, then maybe, just maybe, they could make it through all the ups and downs she knew that the future would bring.

* * *

Final Chapter: Epilogue: Something Beautiful 

Due: Fri 9/8


	61. Epilogue: Something Beautiful

Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: So, I'm guessing you guys are all like, wait a moment, I thought this story ended a few months ago?

Here's the deal. After reading some reviews, I decided to rewrite the epilogue. Since it was the epilogue, I wanted it to be a satisfying chapter. Anyway, much thanks to bunn2007for her brilliant idea for this epilogue and, as always, please read and review.

The lyrics are still from the song _Something Beautiful_ by _Jars of Clay_.

Also, the first chapter of the prequel, _Shadows at Noon_, is posted now as well.

* * *

Epilogue: Something Beautiful

_  
**What I get from my reflection  
Isn't what I thought I'd see **_

_About six months later_

"Anything else about the attack?" Mel asked as she flipped through the Book of Shadows.

Paige shook her head. "No, it was pretty straight forward. Weird looking demons, fireballs, that sort of thing." She sunk into the sofa and shrugged, watching as Mel searched for the specific demons, and reflected on the fact that things had not turned out as she had expected. Mel and Pen did not participate in vanquishes, instead opting to take control of the research and potion brewing. And although they continued to train every day, they had no intention of joining in the active fighting until they were in their twenties.

"I think I found them," Mel said at last, pointing to the entry. "There's a potion here, doesn't look to hard too make."

Paige glanced at the entry and nodded. "Great," she said, pleased. "Let's get rid of the threat then, shall well?"

Mel nodded, and the two of them orbed out of the Manor and back to their apartment.

* * *

"Dad? Dad! Are you even listening to a word I am saying?" Prue demanded into the phone in annoyance. 

Jason sighed, and she knew instinctively that he was rolling her eyes at her. "Yes, Prue," he replied, his voice echoing slightly from the other end of the phone line. "I heard everything you said."

"Well?" Prue asked. "Don't you have anything to say about being at my graduation when Mom is there also? You do know she is going to be there, right? Wait… you are coming, right?"

"Well, it is my daughter graduating from high school," Jason replied dryly, ignoring the comment about Phoebe. He knew exactly what Prue was getting at, but refused to take the bait.

"Well, it will be the first time that you two have been together at a social event in a long time," Prue pointed out. Her parents had managed to stay civil to each other for the past six months, but they limited their conversations to strictly business or Prue related topics.

"Prue…"

"I'm just saying," Prue cut in as her father tried to argue the point. She knew that it wouldn't make a difference, that her parents weren't getting back together, but sometimes she still hoped for it. She had never thought that her parents would get divorced, despite all their problems. Not until the day she had seen those papers…

Of course, she hadn't ever imagined that she would strip her active powers either.

At least things with Chris had improved. He would speak to her now, he would be friendly and kind and listen to her complaints and give her advice, just like he used to. There was something about the way he did it, some sort of formality that still lingered in the air between them, and she didn't think it would ever go away. Sometimes he would look at her, and she knew he was remembering the past.

But they were cousins, and she loved him, and he loved her, and nothing would ever change that.

* * *

"You don't have to do this, Chris," Wyatt said as he and Chris entered yet another engagement ring store. 

Chris gave Wyatt an incredulous look. "You're proposing, Wy. You're proposing to Courtney. I have to pick out rings with you because you have horrible taste. If I don't help, you'll choose some hideous looking thing and Courtney will say no just based on that."

Wyatt glared at Chris for a moment, then said, "Seriously, Chris, I appreciate it, but…"

"But you think I'm going to take one look at a ring and go insane?" Chris finished Wyatt's sentence.

Wyatt sighed. "Well…"

"I'm okay, Wy. Really," Chris protested.

"Are you?" Wyatt countered, giving his brother a shrewd look.

Chris averted his gaze, suddenly unable to meet Wyatt's piercing stare. "No," he muttered at last. "No, I guess not. I just… I'll be okay, it's just hard now." He waved his hand around at the engagement rings. "You're going to get married, Wy. That was… that was supposed to be me and Bianca."

"I know," Wyatt replied sympathetically. "Which is why you don't have to be here."

"You're my brother," Chris answered simply.

Wyatt was about to respond when a salesgirl walked over to them and offered a friendly smile. "Can I help you two?" she asked cheerfully.

"My brother here is getting married," Chris explain, clapping Wyatt on the back. "Or, at least, he's trying to convince his girl friend to marry him. So we need a ring. Something amazing enough to make Courtney lose her common sense long enough to say yes."

The sales girl laughed and gestured them over to one of the nearby cases. "Well, I have a few things here that are guaranteed to make any girl go temporarily insane…"

_**  
Give me reason to believe  
Never leave me incomplete **_

"Did you get the ring?" Piper demanded the moment her two sons walked into the house.

Wyatt smiled proudly and extended a small box, which Piper snatched out of his hands and opened instantly. She stared at it for a moment, her mouth slightly open, then gasped out, "Wy, it is beautiful."

"Where's Dad?" Chris asked curiously.

"Um… he's Up There," Piper replied, not quite able to meet Chris' gaze. Wyatt frowned at his mother's strange behavior, but Chris just sighed.

"Doing what?" the younger witch-lighter asked.

Piper shrugged. "Who knows?" she asked, and both Wyatt and Chris could tell that she was lying.

"Mom," Chris murmured gently, "I know what day it is."

Piper nodded, and forced herself to blink back the tears.

* * *

"Did you talk to the Elders?" Piper asked in a hushed whisper the moment Leo orbed into their room. She shot a quick glance at the door to make sure that they weren't being overheard, then turned back to Leo anxiously. 

Leo nodded and said slowly, "They couldn't tell me anything. Fate is… it is out of their hands."

Piper shook her head. "That's not good enough, Leo. That's not… no, I won't accept it."

"Don't you think this frustrates me too?" Leo demanded. "I was there, Piper, I saw… I saw him…" He shook his head and took a slow breath, trying to steady his rapidly fraying nerves. "I want an answer also, but maybe there just isn't one to give. We just… we need to get through today."

Piper shook her head again, unable to accept what he was saying. "I won't lose him, Leo. I just…"

"I know," Leo murmured, pulling his wife into a tight embrace. He glanced at the calendar sitting on the bedside table, and studied the date.

May 16th.

He had spent more than a decade dreading this one day.

"We won't lose him, Piper," Leo whispered, praying his words were actually true. "I don't care what the date is. I don't care about fate. I won't let Chris die."

* * *

Wyatt pocketed the ring, glanced over at Chris, and said, "Wish me luck." 

"She'll love it, Wy," Chris assured his brother.

Wyatt nodded slowly, staring at Chris for a moment with a puzzled expression, then asked worriedly, "Chris, what day is it?"

Chris just shook his head. "It is the day that you are proposing to your future wife," he replied. The steely look in his eyes indicated to Wyatt that he was not going to give the real answer to the question, and Wyatt orbed away, unable to completely shake the growing unease that was plaguing him.

Chris looked around the empty attic for a moment and sighed.

And then the air rippled, and Sarina appeared, an athame in her hand.

In their bedroom on the floor below, Leo and Piper heard a cry and a crash and the sound of something… or someone… hitting the attic floor.

**_Will you untie this loss of mine?  
It so easily defines me_**  
_**Do you see it on my face?**_

"Chris! No…no, no, no… Oh, God…no, please no…"

Leo raced across the attic towards his wounded son. Chris was lying sprawled on the floor, his face pale, his shirt stained with blood. Standing over him was Sarina, a bloody athame in one hand. She had a strange look on her face, a mixture of regret and resignation.

But at Leo's appearance, she quickly shimmered away.

Leo paid no attention to the High Priestess of the Khail's brief presence in the attic. Instead, he dropped to his knees next to Chris and extended his hands towards the wound, praying the gray tinge of Chris' skin would fade away and he would be brought back to life.

The familiar golden glow extended from his hands, but Chris' wound refused to heal.

The young witch-lighter's life force was slowly fading away and the darkness was threatening to overtake him.

"_You have to find Wyatt."_

"_We are going to find him together."_

"_It won't work. You've already tried. Gideon's magic did this to me. He's the only one who can stop it. Just… go. Saving Wyatt saves the future. You know that."_

"_Gideon doesn't know how to kill Wyatt, remember? We still have time."_

"_Only until the trauma turns him."_

"_I am not going to choose between you and Wyatt, Chris. I can't."_

"_You don't have to, dad. Find Gideon and you save us both."_

"_All right. All right, but I'm not leaving you alone. I'll be right back."_

"_Where are you going?"_

"_To get one of your aunts to watch over you. You're going to be fine. Okay? I promise."_

"NO!" Leo screamed, turning to look up at the ceiling. "No! You do not get to take him from us. Not again! I won't let you."

Piper stood behind her husband, staring at her son's crumpled body, and felt her entire world turn upside-down.

This couldn't be happening. Not again.

_**  
And all I can think about  
Is how long  
I've been waiting to feel you move me**_

"You're not supposed to be here."

Chris spun around at the familiar voice and stared in surprise, scarcely daring to believe that she was really standing in front of him. White mist swirled around her feet, and her body was clothed in a long white dress. Her dark hair fell over her tan skin and her brown eyes gazed at him with love and concern.

"Bianca?"

"Were you expecting someone else?" the Phoenix asked with a laugh. Then she frowned, and repeated, "You're not supposed to be here."

"What do you mean?" Chris questioned, taking a few hesitant steps towards her. He reached out with one hand, and let his finger gently graze her cheek. He was almost afraid that she would fade away before he could feel her skin, but she stayed there, smiling at him, tears welling in her eyes.

"You can't die," Bianca replied. "It's just… it's not your time."

"I died this day in the other timeline," Chris replied. "Or, at least, I died at exactly this age." He didn't know why he was arguing this, it wasn't as though he wanted to die. But she was here, and while he was staring at her, he couldn't stand the idea of leaving.

"Not everything is fate, Chris," Bianca murmured. "Not everything is meant to be."

"I love you," Chris whispered, letting his hand fall to her shoulder.

"I love you too," Bianca replied. "I wanted to help you… after I died, I wanted to… I wanted to go to you and lead you away from that phantom that was plaguing you… but _they_ wouldn't let me."

"Yeah, the Elders, they're really not so big on breaking the rules," Chris deadpanned, and she laughed at his words.

"No, they aren't, are they?" Bianca replied with a nod. Then she sighed and looked away. "Chris, you can't stay here. Your father is trying to heal you, and… you need to go back to him." It hurt her to say the words because she wanted him to stay here with her. She wanted it more than anything else in the world.

But Chris could still live. He could still lead a long and wonderful life, and she loved him too much to take that away from him.

"I don't want to go, I don't want to leave you," Chris whispered.

Bianca wrapped her arms around him. "I know," Bianca replied. "But you've got a chance, Chris. You've got a life. Don't walk away from that."

"I'll never stop loving you," Chris declared.

"But don't hold on to me, okay?" Bianca replied. "You can love me, and you can miss me, and you can remember me, but don't stop living."

"Sometimes I forget how to do this without you," Chris admitted.

"You have a family that loves you," Bianca reminded him. "You have a brother that is getting married. You really want to miss out on Wyatt's wedding?"

Chris shook his head. "No…"

"You have the chance for a future," Bianca continued. "I don't have that. We don't have that. But you do, and you can't waste it."

"Bianca…"

"Live for me, Chris. Live because I can't."

Chris nodded and Bianca slowly faded away, disappearing into the mist.

Chris opened his eyes groggily and watched as his father slowly healed his wound. Piper was leaning over him, relief etched into every line of her face, and then Leo was hugging him tightly and whispering that everything was okay now and they weren't going to let him die. Then Piper was crying and Leo was crying and Piper was cursing the Elders for letting her think that her son was going to die, and Leo was threatening a slow and painful death for Sarina, and Piper was offering to bake anything he wanted, and then Leo was again reassuring his son that everything was going to be alright.

"I know," Chris replied, managing to gasp out the words. "After Gideon stabbed me, you promised I would be okay, that you wouldn't let anything happen to me… I trusted you about that, Dad, and you were right. I'm going to be okay."

**_  
Into something beautiful_**

* * *

Author's note: Alright, I hope you enjoyed this version of the epilogue. Or were there elements of the other epilogue that were better? Should I post both of them? Let me know what you all think.

And hopefully I'll see you all over in my other story.


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